Southeast Asia, Cambodia, Khmer Empire (Angkor culture), ca. 1000 to 1300 CE. The torso from a brown-grey sandstone carving from a Khmer temple of a devi (also known as a devata or aspara), which means female goddess in Sanskrit. The waistband of a skirt (a traditional piece of Khmer clothing called a sampot) is still visible at the bottom of this fragment, its ornate nature demonstrating the level of detail that the full carving would have had. The skin is depicted as smooth, with carved lines giving it additional lifelike texture below the breasts and around the belly button; the nipples are also lightly incised. Comes with custom stand. Size: 3.5" L x 5.9" W x 7.45" H (8.9 cm x 15 cm x 18.9 cm); height on stand: 10.25" (26 cm).

The Khmer loved to represent women in their sculptural art - Angkor Wat, for example, which was built by Suryavarman II, contains carvings of 1,796 women. Depictions of devi were made by the Khmer to show the highest level of beauty - note her small, round breasts and narrow waist, both beauty ideals at the time. However, recent facial analysis of Khmer carvings by archaeologists found that each face had some unique features, and suggests that these idealized statues were also based, by the 12th century and probably before, on real people at the Khmer court. A class of court artisans, supervised by priests, created each figure individually.

Provenance: private San Francisco, California, USA collection

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#122571

Piece is a fragment as shown. Remaining area has nice detail with slight surface wear commensurate with age.