Male deity; Cambodia, Khmer Empire, Angkor Period, Khleang Style, 965-1010.

Male deity; Cambodia, Khmer Empire, Angkor Period, Khleang Style, 965-1010.
Sandstone.
Presents restoration on the arms.
Measurements: 66 x 40 x 12 cm; 79 cm (height with base).
Sandstone sculpture representing a male deity, possibly attributed to Vishnu, one of the supreme divinities of the Hindu pantheon, and belongs to the Khmer Empire, during the Angkor period, in the Khleang style (965-1010 AD). This work, carved with precision and sobriety, reflects the technical refinement and spirituality characteristic of Khmer art at a time of stylistic transition towards a greater formal idealization. The figure appears standing, frontal and erect, in a serene and majestic attitude, with a well-proportioned body and volumes treated in a soft and restrained manner. Although the arms are mutilated, the original number, four, suggests his identification with Vishnu, god of preservation and cosmic order, traditionally represented with multiple arms holding his attributes (the disc, the conch shell, the mallet and the lotus flower). The face, with a calm and symmetrical expression, presents typical features of the Khleang style: a broad forehead, arched eyebrows that meet over a straight nose and slightly curved lips in a restrained smile, symbol of divine serenity. The high, elaborate but sober headdress, with horizontal bands and a conical ending, is another distinctive feature of the period, as is the sampot (lower cloth) of gently carved vertical folds and elegantly knotted at waist level, without excessive ornamentation. In this style there is a clear search for balance between naturalism and spiritual idealization: the bodies acquire a more organic volumetry than in previous stages, but maintain a hieratic frontality that underlines their sacred character. The smooth surface of the stone, barely interrupted by decorative details, gives the figure a timeless and transcendent quality, in keeping with the Khmer conception of the temple as a microcosm of the universe and of sculpture as an earthly manifestation of the divine principle. This representation, therefore, not only embodies the technical and aesthetic excellence of Angkor art, but also its profound religious function, in which the human form becomes a vehicle of the eternal.