A RARE AND LARGE SANDSTONE FIGURE OF UMA, ANGKOR PERIOD, PREAH KO STYLE, 9TH CENTURY

A RARE AND LARGE SANDSTONE FIGURE OF UMA, ANGKOR PERIOD, PREAH KO STYLE, 9TH CENTURY
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve

The Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger, entry from 2005:
“No. 327, LA 1968, A. Maynard, Khmer Preah Ko four-armed Uma 9th c.”
Gallery price: EUR 173,000 or approx.

EUR 289,000 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, Siem Reap. Beautifully modeled in the round with four arms, the figure presents a face of benevolent expression, with wide lips forming a serene smile beneath finely incised eyes. The braided hair rises into a domed chignon with curls cascading down, crowned by a lotus. She wears a sampot secured at the waist with a fishtail sash, part of the fabric gracefully overlapping the left side of the hip, and the pleating is rendered with meticulous attention to detail.

Provenance: Adrian Maynard, London, by 1968. 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 expected wear and obvious losses, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations, an old repair at the neck, nicks, chips, scratches.

Weight: 52.2 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 96.5 cm (excl. stand), 106 cm (incl. stand)

With an associated modern stand. (2)

The braided and matted chignon (jatamakuta) indicates that this figure represents Uma, the wife of Shiva, who is rarely portrayed with four arms.

Preah Ko (lit. 'The Sacred Bull') was the first temple to be built in the ancient and now defunct city of Hariharalaya (in the area that today is called Roluos), some 15 kilometers south-east of the main group of temples at Angkor. The temple was built under the Khmer King Indravarman I in 879 to honor members of the king's family, whom it places in relation with the Hindu deity Shiva. It derives its name from the three statues of sandstone located in the front of and facing the temple's central towers. These statues represent Nandi, the white bull who serves as the mount of Shiva.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related Preah Ko style sandstone figure of a female deity, dated late 9th century, 142 cm tall, in the Musée Guimet, Paris. Compare a closely related Preah Ko style sandstone figure of Rajendradevi as Gauri, dated late 9th century, 175 cm high, in the National Museum of Cambodia, inventory number Ka.1645. Compare a related sandstone figure of Uma, dated Angkor period, 10th century, in the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, accession number S1987.909.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie's Paris, 14 December 2016, lot 18
Price: EUR 47,500 or approx.

EUR 58,500 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An important sandstone figure of Uma, Cambodia, Khmer, Koh Ker period, 10th century
Expert remark: Compare the related modeling, manner of carving, stone, and subject. Note the size (113 cm).

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