The conception of this sculpture is North East Indian Pala in origin, expanded on in Central and Eastern Java and then ultimately Khmerized to conform with 12th to 13th century Khmer stylistic ideas. Khmer tantric images of this nature are rare in the art of the immediate region as the Vajrayana doctrines underlying the piece weren’t mainstream and mostly practised by cultish groups in the upper echelons of Khmer society. This is a very interesting Khmer piece as it displays such a balanced blend of North East Indian, Javanese, and Khmer elements that create a very pleasing, sophisticated, and quite rare image.

Tantric or Vajrayana Buddhism, a branch of Mahayana Buddhism had already developed as an important separate tradition by the sixth century in northwestern India, from where it quickly spread to Nepal, Tibet and ultimately Southeast Asia. Tantric ideas seem to have been part of the Khmer religious world by at least the early tenth century, and once on Khmer territory, the cult fused with older local traditions to form Tantric practices that appear to have differed significantly from those developed in their original Indian homeland. This change is represented by the Khmerization of the iconography to accommodate the religious requirements of the cult’s new adoptive practitioners. Tantric Hinduism and Buddhism were elite and aristocratic cults in Khmer society that ran parallel to the mainstream official state religion of the time, and hence maintained an esoteric secrecy that makes serious contemporary study into this area of Khmer religion problematical. The only evidence that seems to have survived is in the form of a few bas-reliefs on temple walls and a gaggle of bronze and stone sculptures spread around the world in various museums and private collections.

Age: 13th Century.

Height: On base 20.5 cm, off base 19 cm.