DEVI

Stone Description

The ancient Khmers used varied materials for sculpture, including: stone, wood and stucco. Each material reflects a supreme knowledge of carving with the movement, beauty and decor of sculptures dependent on the sculptors' creativity. Khmer sculpture is divided into freestanding, bas-relief, and high-relief categories. Two kinds of stone were used, schist and sandstone (black, red, grey, and white). Most of the religious sculpture was carved in sandstone. There are virtually no traces left today of the techniques and tools used. The technique for maintaining the equilibrium of stone sculptures differed according to the style. In the pre-Angkorian period (VI^th-VIII^th centuries), the sculptors used support props like the horseshoe arc. A good example is the Visnu with four arms (no. 1). They also used the lower edges of the ‘sampot’ (skirt) and tenons projecting from the base for stability. In the Angkor period (IX^th-XIII^th centuries), supports were abandoned. The ancient Khmers left many masterpieces of Brahmanist and Buddhist divinities for their religious practices. In this sense, Khmer ‘art’ consists of images that are expressions of religious beliefs. The principle figures of Hinduism in Khmer art are: Brahma, Visnu, and Siva (these gods make up the Brahmanic trinity); the incarnations of Visnu: Krsna, Rama, Balarama, & etc.; Harihara (a syncretist image of Visnu and Siva) and other secondary figures such as Garuda (the mount of Visnu), Nandin (the mount of Siva) and mythological birds. In Buddhism, the main image is the figure of Buddha and the numerous stories connected with his life (for the Lesser Vehicle), and the Bodhisattva Lokesvara and Prajnaparamita (for the Greater Vehicle). As part of the works of art cited above, there are many bas-reliefs, which depict different stories of the gods, as well as historic events and the ordinary of lives of the people. Most of these are related to architectural decor (lintels, pediments) and bas-reliefs on the walls of temples.

DEVI

Material: Sandstone

Dimensions: H: 127 cm

Date: First half of VIIth century

Provenance: Koh Krieng, Sambor (Mekong) (Kratie)

Collection: National Museum of Cambodia,

Phnom Penh

B.45 B.71.1 Ka.1621

According to Professor Jean Boisselier, this female statue is dated to the middle of the 7th century in the Sambor Prei Kuk style. One of the powerful kings of Chenla, Isanavarman, erected the city called Isanapura at Sambor Prei Kuk currently in Kompong Thom province. There we can still find many brick temples. Because of the absence of attributes, no one can claim this is either Visnu’s spouse or Siva’s spouse. The ancient Khmer used to pay respect to both the main gods and their spouses. “The morphology is remarkably close to the characteristics of Cambodian women today, so that one is tempted to see in this Devi an inspired personification of Khmer womanhood.”

Traditionally, Khmer women wear a long skirt or ‘sampot’. This sampot has a large knot tucked in front and a long central pleat that falls to the ankles. The lower pleated edge is splayed. The belt is made up of five cords and has a large clasp with very fine ornamentation. The style of goddess’s coiffure (jata) is named by a Cambodian expression ‘bokor’ (hump of a bull). This jata is divided into two parts and decorated at the rear with five stands of falling hair.

The large pelvis, round closely-set breasts, folds of the abdomen and neck, round cheeks, full undulating lips, narrow nose, long earlobes and high jata of tresses make up the exceptional beauty of this female divinity.