Stone. 22.2 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Samuel Eilenberg Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1987.

This figure was originally published in Khmer Sculpture, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1961, Fig. 1K, as « Cambodian, probably from Tra Vinh, Early Khmer period, 7th-8th century ». This exhibition was reviewed by J. Boisselier (Boisselier 1962 : 84-87), and on p. 85 he said « it is certainly not Khmer, but Cham on account of the garment, and the Tra Vinh provenance is not justified ». Lacking the stylistics dues which could have been provided by the head, no period can be safely attributed, but the prominent front drapery so dear to Cham sculptors, the left hand resting on the left thigh, and the right hand resting on the raised knee, are peculiar to Cham art (Boisselier 1963 a : Fig. 13, 88).

 

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

Article of "La Lettre de la SACHA" n°6, décember 1999, page 5.