A SANDSTONE FIGURE OF A MALE DEITY, CHAM PERIOD
Vietnam, 10th century. Boldly carved standing in samabhanga with the left hand holding a club and the right raised in front of the chest, wearing a diaphanous robe tied at the waist, the serene face with heavy-lidded eyes and full lips.

Provenance: From a French private collection, acquired in the Parisian trade.
Condition: Excellent condition, commensurate with age. Extensive wear, signs of weathering and erosion, losses, nicks, scratches, encrustations, few structural cracks.

Weight: 9.5 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 38 cm (excl. stand) and 38.5 cm (incl. stand)

Mounted to an associated metal stand. (2)

The height of Cham civilization occurred during the 7th to 10th centuries, when the seafaring Cham controlled the silk and spice trade in the South China Sea between China, India, the Indonesian archipelago and the Abbasid empire. However, this period was also marked by several raids by Javanese kingdoms, near-continuous warfare with the Dai Viet to the north as well as a fierce and often bellicose rivalry with their western neighbors, the Khmer of Angkor in present-day Cambodia. Much like the Khmer had to abandon Angkor after a Thai invasion in 1431, the Cham gradually lost their northern territories to the Dai Viet between the 10th and 15th centuries, beginning with the sack and eventual abandonment of Indrapura and culminating in the destruction of the Cham capital Vijaya in 1471, after which only the southern principality of Panduranga remained.

Auction result comparison: Compare a related sandstone figure of a female deity, 75 cm high, dated 10th-11th century, at Sotheby's New York in Indian and Southeast Asian Works of Art on 19 March 2008, lot 247, bought-in at an estimate of USD 50,000-70,000.