A KHMER SANDSTONE TORSO OF UMA, ANGKOR PERIOD, BAPHUON STYLE, 11TH CENTURY

A KHMER SANDSTONE TORSO OF UMA, ANGKOR PERIOD, BAPHUON STYLE, 11TH CENTURY
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

Finely carved and sensuously modeled, her youthful body with gently swelling breasts, the body narrowing to a slender waist contrasting the wide shoulders. She wears a diaphanous, finely pleated dhoti rising at the back and dipping forward to below the navel and knotted at the front.

Provenance: Freddy Hansen, Copenhagen, Denmark, by 1991. Jorgen Ruben, acquired from the above. In the Jorgen Ruben Collection for 35 years.

Freddy Hansen was a Danish dealer of Asian art and antiquities, particularly Buddhist sculpture. Based in Copenhagen, he was active from the 1950s onward and became one of Denmark's most prominent dealers in Asian art before his retirement in the early 1990s.

Jorgen Ruben is a Danish art dealer and collector who has been active for over four decades and is highly regarded in the fields of Asian art and classical antiquities. Raised in an art-conscious family, Ruben was exposed early to both modern painting and European decorative arts. He began working in the art trade in the mid-1970s, first with Persian rugs and later with antiques, while travels to Iran and a visit to Persepolis sparked his lasting interest in antiquity. After studies in Copenhagen and London, he worked in England with a dealer in early furniture, before travelling widely in Latin America and Asia, deepening his knowledge of regional art and culture. In 1984 Ruben opened a gallery in Copenhagen dealing in Asian antiquities. He was later active in London and, in the early 2000s, operated the Brussels gallery Classic Art. Much of his career, however, has been conducted privately from home, selling by appointment to collectors, galleries, and museums. Ruben has always bought selectively, choosing only works that deeply engaged him, and often keeping them for many years until placing them with a collector he felt truly understood them.

Important Note: For essential information on the

Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger and provenance documentation please visit here: www.zacke.at/rubencollection_ledger

Condition: Very good condition, commensurate with age. Expected wear, obvious losses, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations, old fills, small chips, scattered nicks, scratches.

Weight: 37.3 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 42.8 cm (excl. stand), 52 cm (incl. stand)

Mounted on an associated stand. (2)

This style of sculpture derives its name from the temple-mountain of the Baphuon, one of the most ambitious constructions undertaken in the Angkor complex by the Khmer monarch Udayadityavarman II in the eleventh century. Compared to the monumental sculptures of the preceding Koh Ker style of the tenth century, Baphuon images were created in a slightly reduced scale. The distinguishing feature of these sculptures is a fluid attenuated line with great care taken towards attaining perfect harmony and balance of form. With their restrained elegance and soft modeling, Baphuon sculptures are imbued with an inner strength and are amongst the most appealing of Khmer works of art.

A definitive stylistic innovation of the Baphuon period was in the treatment of the garments on both male and female deities depicted curving from a high back to fall low at the front revealing the navel. The belt was initially plain, but developed into a more ornamental detail and various patterns and suspended pendants were introduced. According to Boisselier, the highly decorative style of Banteay Srei inspired the development of Baphuon period sculpture, see Helen Ibbitson Jessup and Thierry Zephir (eds.), Millennium of Glory, 1997, p. 255.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Sotheby's New York, 23 March 2007, lot 44
Price: USD 504,000 or approx.

EUR 710,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Female torso Sandstone Khmer, Baphuon style
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling and manner of carving. Note the related size (39.4 cm) and smooth finish.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie's New York, 23 March 2010, lot 274
Price: USD 37,500 or approx.

EUR 50,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A sandstone torso of Uma, Khmer, Angkor period, Baphuon style, 11th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling and manner of carving. Note the smaller size (28 cm).

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