Sculptures from Angkor National Museum:
Following on from my post of the incomplete statue of Prajnaparamita that is included among the collection at the Angkor National Museum, here’s another unfinished sculpture at the museum, a male deity, which is identified as being found at the pyramid temple of Phimeanakas in the Angkor complex. Though the temple itself dates to the 10-11th century, it was the host of a very valuable inscription stele from the later reign of Jayavarman VII at the end of the 12th century. The museum dates the roughly-hewn statue to the same time-frame. The figure is clearly at the early stage of sculpting with the outline recognizable but the detailed precise carving stage not yet reached. Few of these incomplete statues are on display in museums, so its an opportunity to see how the beautifully polished male and female sculptures we normally encounter, started out as one solid block of sandstone. The identity of the male figure, with just two arms, might lend itself to being an intended sculpture of Shiva, with the large top-hat style headdress perhaps offering experts an additional clue. In its current state, the statue would not have been consecrated or allocated a sacred space to reside at the temple and may’ve been cast aside and forgotten before being found during the EFEO’s clearance of the site. I’ve also posted a few other unfinished statues to compare.
