IMPORTANT TORSE D'UMA EN GRES

The Baphuon period is arguably the highpoint in depiction of both male and female forms in all Khmer art. One may even say that the materialized gods from this period are handsome and well-built, and the goddesses sensual and graceful. This superb torso of Uma is indeed elegant and naturalistic in appeal and seems to embody the ideal of feminine beauty with her narrow shoulders, slender waist and small but firm breasts. The unknown artist sculpted this sacred image in total command of form and line while its tactile quality suggests a youthful skin sensitively offset against the refined treatment of the realistically wrapping and tying of her sampot.