A RARE SANDSTONE HEAD OF HARIHARA, PRE-ANGKOR PERIOD
Cambodia, 7th to late 8th century. The serene face sensitively carved with almond-shaped eyes with neatly incised pupils, thick and elegantly arched brows, and full lips, surmounted by a finely carved miter headdress.

Provenance: Collection of Jean-Marc Andral, acquired in 1996 from Galerie Rambhag, Brussels (invoice not available). Jean-Marc Andral is a Belgian manager based in Brussels and active in the healthcare industry for over 25 years.
Condition: The lower half of the face was broken off and reattached some time ago. Extensive wear, losses, signs of weathering and erosion, nicks and scratches, few structural cracks. Overall good condition, commensurate with age.

Weight: 5,910 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 22 cm (excl. stand) and 31.5 cm (incl. stand)

Mounted on an associated metal stand. (2)

In Harihara imagery, Shiva is represented as the right half of the deity, his vertical third eye, lightly incised into the forehead, truncated at the Vishnu divide. The facial features are undifferentiated, unlike in their Indian counterparts, where a masculine and feminine cast is given to each half. This Harihara makes clear the extent to which the Khmer conception differentiated the two deities only in the partition of the headdress into a combined jatamukuta-miter and in the provision of half of a third eye on Shiva's side. The popularity of this hybrid deity was largely confined to the seventh century in Cambodia.

Literature comparison: Compare a related sandstone head of Harihara, 11.5 cm high, also dated to the Pre-Angkor period, in the National Museum of Cambodia, inventory number Ka.2687. Compare a related sandstone head of Harihara, dated to the early 7th century, in the collection of the Musee Guimet, inventory number MG14899.