Royal Athena Galleries, Beverly Hills, California. Jeff Hunter, New York, acquired from the above on March 29, 1995. Freeman's, Philadelphia, March 13, 2019, lot 38. Acquired from the above by the present owner.
A fragment with losses at extremities; repaired breaks at the base with associated small losses, underside drilled for mounting to stand; later wood stand sun-bleached and water-stained; scattered losses, chipping, nicks, and abrasions to stone; particularly to back of sampot; surfaces moderately soiled.
Many four-armed male figures from the Angkor Wat period depict the Hindu god Vishnu. Towards the end of the twelfth century, however, images of Lokeshvara and other Buddhist deities began to proliferate in almost stylistically indistinguishable fashion, as King Jayavarman VII (reigned 1181-1218) adopted Mahayana Buddhism as the official state religion, replacing the cult of Vishnu which had predominated the Khmer empire for previous centuries. The identity of this deity hence is almost impossible to discern without its iconographic features which would normally appear on the chignon, or as objects held by one of the missing hands.
For a very closely related larger figure, with front overhanging flap to the sampot, double-fishtail sash, curved sweeps to one thigh, oval-patterned belt, and a similar “butterfly” knot at the back, see the figure formerly in the collection of Claude de Marteau, sold at Christie's, Paris, December 10, 2020, lot 84, where it is dated to the 12th century, Angkor Wat period.
