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Lot Essay
This unusual well-preserved sculpture of Shiva is exceptional in having both arms and partly the hands while still standing solidly with both feet on a base. His right hand perhaps held originally the trident while the left grasped the rosary. As no remains of these attributes are detectable most likely both were made of metal.
His face is young and impersonal displaying a rather distant expression with a gaze fixed as befits a superhuman deity. The eyes are underlined by an engraving that extends in a slight curve to the temples, a characteristic of many sculptures created during the 12th century. A moustache is surmounting his finely defined lips. His hair is arranged in a cylindrical jatamakuta, slightly flaring, and carved to the front with the symbols Aum and half-moon in shallow relief.
The Aum mantra is the most sacred of all mantras; in the Shiva tradition symbolizing that their primordial god is considered a yogin master. Interestingly is that both emblems are more often found on bronze Shiva images than on stone examples.
His vertical pleated sampot is adorned with a double anchor-shaped panel falling down to its lower edge, and secured with a belt. The latter is carved in shallow, high relief with a double row of ovals encompassed by a double string of pearls, a typical invention of the artists during the Angkor Vat period. Unusual are the upper and lower border of his loincloth as they are decorated with a row of pearls. As the image is deprived of any sculpted jewellery, it was most likely ornamented with (perhaps) gold jewellery during religious celebrations and ceremonies.
Based on the sacred image's ridged stance, rather slim body, broad and wide shoulders, it is suggested to place this fine Shiva figure in the latter half of the 12th century.
W. Felten and M. Lerner in Das Erbe Asiens: Skulpturen der Khmer und Thai vom 6. zum 14. Jahrhundert, Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1988, pl.29, publish a four-armed Shiva example from the Angkor Vat period. A bronze Shiva image with the Aum emblem set against the front of his chignon is discussed by E. Bunker and D. Latchford in Adoration and Glory: The Golden Age of Khmer Art, Art Media Resources, Chicago 2004, pl. 112.
His face is young and impersonal displaying a rather distant expression with a gaze fixed as befits a superhuman deity. The eyes are underlined by an engraving that extends in a slight curve to the temples, a characteristic of many sculptures created during the 12th century. A moustache is surmounting his finely defined lips. His hair is arranged in a cylindrical jatamakuta, slightly flaring, and carved to the front with the symbols Aum and half-moon in shallow relief.
The Aum mantra is the most sacred of all mantras; in the Shiva tradition symbolizing that their primordial god is considered a yogin master. Interestingly is that both emblems are more often found on bronze Shiva images than on stone examples.
His vertical pleated sampot is adorned with a double anchor-shaped panel falling down to its lower edge, and secured with a belt. The latter is carved in shallow, high relief with a double row of ovals encompassed by a double string of pearls, a typical invention of the artists during the Angkor Vat period. Unusual are the upper and lower border of his loincloth as they are decorated with a row of pearls. As the image is deprived of any sculpted jewellery, it was most likely ornamented with (perhaps) gold jewellery during religious celebrations and ceremonies.
Based on the sacred image's ridged stance, rather slim body, broad and wide shoulders, it is suggested to place this fine Shiva figure in the latter half of the 12th century.
W. Felten and M. Lerner in Das Erbe Asiens: Skulpturen der Khmer und Thai vom 6. zum 14. Jahrhundert, Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1988, pl.29, publish a four-armed Shiva example from the Angkor Vat period. A bronze Shiva image with the Aum emblem set against the front of his chignon is discussed by E. Bunker and D. Latchford in Adoration and Glory: The Golden Age of Khmer Art, Art Media Resources, Chicago 2004, pl. 112.