We have mentioned earlier that in the late period of Cham art, the legs tend to vanish and become blended with the socle, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, has a very interesting sculpture illustrating this form. Unfortunately, we were unable to secure a photograph in time for publication, but Joan Cummins, Assistant Curator, was kind enough to provide us with a snapshot for the purpose of documenting this piece. A very similar image of Shiva is housed in the Musée Guimet in Paris, which J. Boisselier called « very close » to yet another Shiva of the Yang Mum style (Boisselier 1963 a : 366-367, and Fig. 237). But the Paris and the Boston Shivas are seated against a stele, holding a long handled trident in the right hand, and a long-handled sword in the left hand, in an almost Pharaoh-like fashion. The features of both images are very similar, and a voluminous front drapery starting at the waist ends in a curl. The major difference is that the legs of the Musée Guimet piece are strangely tucked under, so as to almost become a socle, whereas here, an awkward looking and squatting (?) Nandin is placed horizon­tally in front of the seated god whose large thighs occupy Nandin's back from the neck to the tail, and whose short calves dangle in front. At first glance, the Boston image gives the impression that the upper part of Shiva' body grows out of Nandin, which becomes his socle, in the same fashion that the divinities from the Po Romé sanctuary will later emerge from theirs.

"Some Remarkable Cham sculptures in American Museums" Natasha Eilenberg, Robert L. Brown