Khmer Sandstone Torso of Deity, 12th Century

A grey sandstone torso of a deity, Khmer, Angkor Period, 12th/ 13th century together with two installation shots by Max Dupain for the exhibition at the David Jones' Art Gallery, 57.5 cm high. Provenance: (of the Torso) David Jones' Art Gallery, Indian, Thai, and Khmer Sculpture, Sydney, 4 to 23 November, 1968, No. 49 (illustrated). Sotheby's, The Connoisseur's Autumn Collection, Melbourne, 27 May 2008, Lot 28. R&V Tregaskis Oriental Art, Sydney (of the installation shots) David Jones' Art Gallery, Indian, Thai, and Khmer Sculpture, Sydney, 4 to 23 November, 1968. Mossgreen, Max Dupain (1911-1992) - Part II: the Final Estate Photographs, Sydney, 19 June 2017, Lot 426 and 427. R&V Tregaskis Oriental Art, Sydney. Published: David Jones' Art Gallery, Indian, Thai, and Khmer Sculpture, Sydney, 4 to 23 November, 1968, No. 49 (illustrated) In the original catalogue as well as the Max Dupain's installation shots, the deity has a head. However it is clear from one of Dupain's shots, the back, that the head had already been detached. In the subsequent sale at Sotheby's, the torso was offered without the head. Many four-armed male figures from the Angkor Wat period depict the Hindu god Vishnu. Towards the end of the twelfth century, however, images of Lokeshvara and other Buddhist deities began to proliferate in almost stylistically indistinguishable fashion, as King Jayavarman VII (r. 1181-1218) adopted Mahayana Buddhism as the official state religion, replacing the cult of Vishnu which had predominated the Khmer empire for previous centuries. The identity of this deity hence is almost impossible to discern without its iconographic features which would normally appear on the chignon, or as objects held by one of the missing hands.