Lot 74
Southeast Asia, Cambodia, Khmer Empire (Angkor culture), ca. 12th to 13th century CE. A fierce, hand-carved pale red sandstone panel from a temple wall, carved with an incredibly ornate, high relief decorative program featuring two mythical lions fighting one another against a backdrop of scrolling, enormous foliage. In the upper corner, set inside an arched altar, is a Buddha figure with legs in a crouch and one arm raised. The upper body with enormous mouth of one lion is visible as it seems to bite or even eat the lower body of a much smaller lion, whose body is twisted in panic and anger. Size: 17.25" W x 22.5" H (43.8 cm x 57.2 cm); 24.1" H (61.2 cm) on included custom stand.
The vast temples and palaces of the Khmer Empire were guarded by sculptures featuring lions like these. They flanked the entrances and lined the stairways and terraces. For example, Angkor Wat, one of the largest religious monuments in the world, has lions guarding its gates. When originally constructed, it, and many other temples in the Khmer Empire, were dedicated to Hindu gods. Towards the end of the 12th century, the Khmer religion transitioned to Buddhism. The religion came from India, where the Asiatic lion lives, but the sculptors of Cambodia would not have been familiar with the real animal unless they had traveled extensively. Instead, imagination took over for those artisans, who also had Javanese influence incorporated into their work. The end result was a series of stylized creatures like these - lions in the sense that they protected sacred spaces and symbolized divinity and royalty, but with a particularly fanciful Khmer form.
Provenance: private Orange County, California, USA collection, acquired in the 1930s
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#153798
- Condition: The piece is a fragment from a larger sculpture, with correspondingly rough edges and some losses on the back. There are a few small repairs to chips on the front, but these are well done and very difficult to see. Great preservation of details.
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