IMPORTANTE STATUE DE GARDIEN EN GRES

This imposing anthropomorphic kneeling guardian figure displays a human body and limbs though topped with a menacing lion head. These guardians were placed aside of gateways, steps and entrances of sacred areas like temples. His right hand holds the vajra or diamond sceptre a common attribute for these guardians. The right lower side of the figure has a different colour and follows the break of the arm and leg suggesting that this section was found in a different part of the ground and influenced by different minerals and salts than the rest of the figure.
The presented stone guardian can be compared in iconography and style with the famous and earlier example from Bantey Srei, presently in the National Museum of Cambodia, Phnom Penh (inv. no. Ka 786) and published for instance by H. I. Jessup and Th. Zéphir, Angkor et dix siècles d'Art Khmer, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris 1997, pl. 52.