A LARGE AND MAGNIFICENT SANDSTONE FIGURE OF BRAHMA, BAKHENG STYLE, ANGKOR PERIOD, 10TH CENTURY

A LARGE AND MAGNIFICENT SANDSTONE FIGURE OF BRAHMA, BAKHENG STYLE, ANGKOR PERIOD, 10TH CENTURY
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

The Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger, entry from 2005:
“No. 566, LA, A. Maynard 1972, Khmer Bakheng four-headed Brahma, 10th c., ca 104 cm h.”
Gallery price: EUR 290,000 or approx.

EUR 484,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing.
The ledger establishes that this object was located in Europe before the UNESCO 1970 Convention entered into force.

Khmer Empire. Superbly carved, the four-headed, four-armed deity shown standing in samabhanga, wearing a pleated sampot falling to the knees and secured at the waist with a sash featuring distinctive double-anchor folds. The finely modeled faces each displaying a serene expression defined by almond-shaped eyes beneath ridged brows, a broad nose, and full lips set in a calm smile with a subtle moustache, each with rope-like hair piled up into a jatamukuta secured by a string of beads behind a floral diadem.

Provenance: Adrian Maynard, London, by 1972. Collection of Leo Albrecht, Denmark, acquired from the above. Jorgen Ruben, acquired from the above before 2005. In the Jorgen Ruben Collection for at least 21 years.

Adrian Maynard joined Spink & Sons in 1947, where he was appointed Director from 1962 and eventually Deputy Chairman until his retirement in 1984. He was a man of enormous drive and undoubtedly the most flamboyant character to take charge of the Asian art department, which he took to the height of its success. Maynard believed firmly that "a dealer, whose fortune and good name depends on knowing what to buy, has a much greater responsibility to be right about the objects that come into his hands than, say, an academic, who never handles large sums of money.”

Leo Albrecht was a German-born publisher and literary agent who established himself in Copenhagen after the Second World War. In 1951 he founded his agency, which played an important role in expanding the international market for Scandinavian literature. He began collecting art in the late 1950s, with a particular focus on Asian sculpture. In Copenhagen, he spent much of his time visiting antique dealers, museums, and exhibitions. He developed especially close ties with Ole Haslund, Lau Sunde, and Freddy Hansen, among the most prominent dealers in their fields. He also traveled frequently to London, where he became close friends with Adrian Maynard. Jorgen Ruben first met Albrecht in 1984, and they quickly became close friends. Ruben later described him as a gentleman and “the greatest collector of Asian art in Denmark.” He acquired Albrecht's entire Asian sculpture collection when Albrecht moved back to Germany after selling his publishing company. The two remained close, with Albrecht continuing to visit Denmark each summer and staying at the Ruben family's beach house north of Copenhagen.

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: Good condition with old wear, expected traces of weathering and erosion, obvious losses, and few smoothed chips, the back of the lower right leg with an old repair, possibly few minor old fills.

Weight: 95.8 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 106.2 cm (excl. stand), 123.5 cm (incl. stand)

With an associated metal stand. (2)

This representation of Brahma, the Brahmanical God of creation and progenitor of all universes, is conceived as omnipresent. He is therefore depicted with four faces and four arms, in accordance with Indian tradition, symbolizing his universal scope, while each of his four mouths is said to have revealed one of the sacred Vedic texts.

In Khmer art, the Hindu god Brahma is rarely represented in freestanding form, as in the present example. Nevertheless, his sampot already anticipates the Pre Rup style, which may be understood as the definitive stylistic successor to the widely favored Bakheng style, emerging in the early tenth century and named after sculptures associated with the Bakheng temple. The garment is knee-length, drawn up between the legs and secured at the back, and features a pleated 'double-anchor', or 'fishtail', pendants at the front, particularly distinctive for the period and stylistic context. This sculpture would likely have occupied a subsidiary shrine within a temple complex dedicated primarily to Shiva.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related sandstone figure of Brahma, Cambodia, dated first quarter of the 10th century, 120.7 cm high, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 36.96.3.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie's Paris, 13 December 2016, lot 21
Price: EUR 37,500 or approx.

EUR 49,500 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare sandstone figure of Brahma, Cambodia, Khmer, Pre-Rup period, late 10th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of carving, stone, and subject. Note the similar size (96.5 cm).

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