Lot 21
Southeast Asia, Cambodia, Khmer Empire (Angkor culture), ca. 8th to 12th century CE. A truly remarkable sandstone sculpture, skillfully hand-carved to depict the elephant-headed deity Ganesha - also Ganesh - the Lord of Good Fortune who provides riches, success, and general prosperity. The zoomorphic deity stands atop straight legs, wearing a sizable, conical headdress and a short wraparound skirt known as a sampot with cascading creases of fabric. A consequence of his affinity for sweets; his portly belly hangs over his sampot, as his generously lidded eyes gaze forth above a pair of pointed tusks and a lengthy trunk that curls upwards at the end. His huge ears extend outwards from his head, resting atop his broad shoulders. Size: 5.5" W x 12.5" H (14 cm x 31.8 cm); 15.6" H (39.6 cm) on included custom stand.
Esteemed as one of the principal deities of the Hindu pantheon and the first son of Shiva and Parvati, Ganesha is known as the Lord of Plenty or the god of auspiciousness and is highly revered as the regulator of all obstacles with the power to create and remove them. Followers traditionally ask for his blessings at the beginning of any new paths or serious endeavors. The origin of his unusual physiognomy - particularly how he came to possess such an unusual head - is the source of many legends, the most popular is that one day when Shiva was away from home, Parvati created a human son from her own body. She asked her son to guard the door while she was bathing. Quite unexpectedly, Shiva returned home, and the boy would not allow Shiva to enter his own household. Enraged by this, Shiva cut off the boy's head. Parvati grew quite angry and ordered Shiva to replace his head. Shiva did so with the head of the first living being he encountered, an elephant.
Ganesha is also widely revered as the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom. As the god of beginnings, he is honored at the start of rituals and ceremonies before other gods in order to remove potential obstacles between the worshipper and the divine. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations and, in Southeast Asia, he is given a more independent status than in India; his images were often housed in separate temples as primary icons of worship.
According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "In the inscriptions of seventh-century Khmer-speaking territories, Ganesha is consistently called by one of his more popular early names, Ganapati, or 'lord of the ganas,' Shivas mischievous dwarfish helpers. His pot-bellied form almost certainly betrays his yaksha origins as a fertility deity linked to agriculture, perhaps Kubera, given the gods association with wealth
Invocations to Ganapati began appearing in Khmer epigraphy during the same period."
In the 7th century, Khmer art moved away from Indian styles to encompass its own framework; one example of this seen here is that this statue is carved in the round, rather than as a relief on a stela, which was common with Indian and Javanese Hindu and Buddhist sculptures that previously influenced Cambodian art. From this, we can infer that Khmer sculptors would have desired their artwork to be viewed from all sides, and thus placed in the center of temples rather than against a wall.
Cf. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982.220.7, The Art Institute of Chicago, 2016.418, Cleveland Museum of Art, 1987.147, and National Museum of Korea, Gu 4538.
Provenance: Whisnant Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, acquired prior to 2000
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Display stands not described as included/custom in the item description are for photography purposes only and will not be included with the item upon shipping.
#169819
- Condition: Loss of arms, bottom part of legs, feet, and proper right tusk. Expected surface ware with some abrasions and softening of finer details. Otherwise, excellent with some light earthen deposits in areas.
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