A SANDSTONE HEAD OF VISHNU, KULEN STYLE, PRE-ANGKOR PERIOD, FIRST HALF OF THE 9TH CENTURY

拍品描述

A SANDSTONE HEAD OF VISHNU, KULEN STYLE, PRE-ANGKOR PERIOD, FIRST HALF OF THE 9TH CENTURY The mustachioed face has a striking realism suggestive of immediate portraiture. Finely carved with bow-shaped lips and a short swirling moustache below a broad nose, almond-shaped eyes and gently arched brows, the head with a cylindrical miter that is plain and frames the forehead with a simple band. Dimensions: Height 20 cm (excl. stand), 27 cm (incl. stand) Based on his high cylindrical miter it is almost certain that this head represents Vishnu. Additionally, this particular god belonged to the most popular iconographic representations during the Kulen phase which enhances this presumption. His specific high headdress gives him, as it were, a royal status which is emphasized by a slightly smiling, almost arrogant, expression. The facial features seem highly particularized, as is the case with most Vishnu examples executed in this style. In the late eighth century, the Khmer king Jayavarman II moved his capital from Vyadhpura, likely in eastern Cambodia, to Hariharalaya (modern Roluos). In 802 he performed a consecration ceremony (abhisheka) on Phnom Kulen, a mountain plateau northeast of the Tonle Sap lake, an early religious center of the Khmer royal household. A series of single-cell brick sanctuary temples on Phnom Kulen built during his reign are associated with a small corpus of important sculptures. Stylistically, it marks the moment of transition from the pre-Angkorian world to the beginnings of the Angkorian period. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related complete sandstone figure of Vishnu, first half of the 9th century, 190 cm high, in the Musée Guimet, accession number MG18860, and exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, 5th to 8th Century, 14 April – 27 July 2014, cat. no. 79. Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Zacke, Vienna, 11 April 2025, lot 632 Price: EUR 21,450 or approx. EUR 22,500 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling and manner of carving with similar facial features and tall miter headdress. Note the size (33 cm). Auction result comparison: Type: Closely related Auction: Christie’s New York, 22 March 2011, lot 474 Price: USD 21,250 or approx. EUR 27,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling and manner of carving with similar facial features and tall miter headdress. Note the size (28.8 cm).

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