October 2018 ~ KHMER ART

Sunday, October 21, 2018

the Great Lake which was for a short time

the Great Lake which was for a short time a royal residence Uncertainty surrounds these three sta- iues are these representations of princes or deities? The Adorned orant. the oldest and best preser- ved of the pieces. was In all probability sculpted in the sixteenth century. possibly during the brief revival of Angkor The praying figure ls kneeling respectfully with his feet to his left and. in the ges- ture of veneration inherited from India. he raises his hands to his young. smooth face A few traces of gliding can be seen on the lacquer covering his cheek Beneath hrs half-closed eyelids. he seems lost in blissful contemplation A simple pectoral decorates his throat The tip of his tiara is broken but on the front of the tiara and on the nape. the artist. like a goldsmlth. has added an intricate and marvellously elegant decoration 0n the front of the dladem a large cruciform ﬂower spreads its la- [era] flame-

shaped petals. whilst on the statues nape curls of leaves and rosettes form an orderly pattern centred around the flower The ﬂame-shaped petals of the ﬂower. a motif which appeared in the sixteenth century. conﬁrm the age of the statue Certainly. the praying figures of Babor have neither the beauty nor the gentle serenity of the statue from Angkor Wat. and their extremities have been gnawed away by damp or insects They. too. are sumptuously adorned with tall dladems and a pectoral decorated with a diamond-shaped pendant which. in the seventeenth century. was found on many Thal carvings Their skirts. covering their lower back. are decorated with delicate ﬂoral motifs The most recent and better preserved of the two. but also the less beautiful. holds up a vase like an offering The other figure. without arms but With a solemn. somewhat melancholy face is very moving. Leaving behind the wooden statues, the last images of the world of the gods one cannot help but meditate brieﬂy before the adorned orant Before entering the world of human beings and visiting the ethnology room. it worth walking through the garden in the Inner courtyard of the museum. which is surrounded by a gallery. llke a cloisier in the centre Is a black wooden dais. protected by the four great kings. guardians of the Orient sculpted on its pediments The dais shelters the famous and mysterious statue of the leper king. once erected In the centre of Angkor Thom on the terrace which still bears his name it is pro» bably a dharmaraia, a king of the Doctrine. a deity that was meant to look ter- rifying as his smile reveals fangs at the corners of his lips However amid the lotus-covered pools in the centre of the sunllt courtyard, this strict king of the Doctrine, with his soft contours. seems harmless enough «a.

STON angkor

Untilthe end of the Anghor period. the material of choice for sculpture was sandstone. though brick, " stucco and terracotta were still used in small quantities. Shale was used for the pedestals and as a ' support for inscriptions. . The statuesare carved straight into the stone. almost always in a single block of stone. The sculptors did not work from a model and so expressed themselves with great spontaneity and sensitivity. but they sometimes made mistakes which meant the whole _ piece had to.be abandoned. ’The statues became smaller and smaller at the end of the eleventh and beginning of the twelfth centuries. not because sculptors tried to be more efficient but probably because it was difﬁcult to find large blochs of homogenous stone At the end of the twelfth and beginning of thei thirteenth centuries. since large—scale sculptures were made with poor quality sandstone. sculptors started using special equipment In the period following Angkor. stone sculptures were sometimes decorated with layers of black, red and gold coating. which resembles that found in wooden sculptures

STONE Until the end of the Angkor period

STONE Until the end of the Angkor period. the material of choice for sculpture was sandstone, though brick, stucco and terracotta were still used in small quantities Shale was used for the pedenstals and as a support for inscriptions The statues are carved straight into the stone, almost always in a single block of stone The sculptors did not work from a model and so expressed themselves with great spontaneity and sensitivity, but they sometimes made mistakes which meant the whole piece had to be abandoned The statues became smaller and smaller at the end of the eleventh and beginning of the twelfth centuries, not because sculptors tried to be more efficient but probably because it was difficult to find large blocks of homogenous stone At the end of the twelfth and beginning of the thirteenth centuries, since large-scale sculptures were made with poor quality sandstone, sculptors started using special equipment In the period following Angkor, stone sculptures were sometimes decorated with layers of black, red and gold coating, which resembles that found in wooden sculptures

Book khmer art

F telll between Bl’ﬁma and Duryodhana Third quarter of the 10th century Pink sandstone — 1.89 x 2.42 rn. From Banteay Srei (Siem Reap). Inventory no. C 32.10. Kaurava, and in front of him Bhima‘s four brothers seem to From the little temple of encourage their elder brother Banteay SYEL this triangular The sculptor succeeded in pediment is decorated With an isolating Duryodhana Without undulating pitch, which frames upsetting the overall balance the typanum on which an of the composition episode of the Mahabharata IS All the ﬁgures wear the ﬁnely depicted The scene is based pleated sampot with its tumed on a skillul distribution of the down border and different triangle. the pom! of which IS ornaments sculpted with great lormed by the diagonal of elegance in this scene, the Bhima's body, readyto lump ﬁgures In high reliel seem to and that of the swing plow detach themselves from the 1 held by Balarama, the brother bare background to express of the tour-armed Krishna their Violence, their stmggle, Below the ~terrible“ Pandava is Without ever detracting from his cousin Duryodhana. the the harmonious composmon ”inv1nc1ble"chielolthe ol the whole