Head of a male deity, Koh Ker style, Angkor period, Khmer Empire, Southeast Asia, 10th century AD.

Head of a male deity, Koh Ker style, Angkor period, Khmer Empire, Southeast Asia, 10th century AD.
Sandstone.
Provenance: From an old private collection near Oxford, UK.
The state of preservation of this sculpture is remarkably good, considering its age. There are natural wear, small losses, scratches, old cracks (some of them with fillings) and an old repair in an area of the crown, all of them compatible with the passage of time and the processes of exposure to weathering or subsequent displacements.
Measurements: 55 x 25 x 22 cm.

Comparable works can be found in the permanent collections of the Musée Guimet (Paris), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) or the National Museum of Cambodia (Phnom Penh), where other heads of Khmer divinities from the same period are kept, equally characterized by their serene monumentality and the delicate ornamentation of the headdresses.

The sculpture presented here - a male deity head carved in sandstone, belonging to the Koh Ker style of the Angkor period (10th century A.D.) - is an exceptional work of art of the Khmer empire, which flourished in Southeast Asia and reached its peak between the 9th and 15th centuries. This head, approximately 54 cm high, is characterized by its formal elegance, its refined finish and for embodying the most distinctive features of the style that briefly developed in Koh Ker, the former capital of the empire during the reign of King Jayavarman IV (r. 928-941). The head preserves a serene and harmonious face, with almond-shaped eyes with incised eyelids, arched eyebrows, a straight and broad nose, and fleshy lips modeled with softness and naturalism, configuring an expression of inner recollection that is common in the representations of deities in Khmer art. The face conveys a solemn calm and is delineated with an idealized balance that moves away from anatomical realism in favor of an abstract and symbolic spirituality. These features contribute to an image of serene majesty, typical of the Hindu pantheon, particularly the god Shiva, with whom many of these male representations in Koh Ker art have traditionally been associated. The hair is meticulously represented in rows of fine braids that ascend in geometric order towards a spectacular conical bun (jata-makuta), a characteristic element of Hindu divinities. This vertical structure, finely decorated with incised floral patterns, is secured with a profusely carved diadem with vegetal motifs and a zigzag (chevron) border, which frames the transition between the face and the headdress with remarkable technical mastery. The surface of the stone shows a polished, silky and unctuous finish, which contributes to enhance the modeling of the face and its sculptural volume.

The Koh Ker style is distinguished within Angkorian art by a more monumental, vigorous and energetic aesthetic. Unlike the stylized refinement of the classical period of Angkor (such as the Baphuon or Bayon style), the art of Koh Ker is characterized by its plastic strength, the sharpness of the contours and a tendency towards sculptural monumentality. Although the period was brief, his artistic production left a deep mark due to the technical and expressive quality of his pieces.