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

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

Khmer Empire. Standing in samabhanga, her young unadorned body with prominent breasts and her belly beautifully rounded, wearing a long, pleated sampot tied at the front, the long central fold elegantly culminating in a fishtail at the hem, and held together at the hips with a plain belt.

Provenance: Freddy Hansen, Copenhagen, Denmark, by 1983. Jorgen Ruben, acquired from the above. In the Jorgen Ruben Collection for 43 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: Good condition, extensive wear and obvious losses, signs of weathering and erosion, nicks, and structural cracks.

Weight: 67 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 91 cm (excl. stand), 97 cm (incl. stand)

With an associated modern stand. (2)

This piece exemplifies the style of Baphuon female figures with the frontal stance, the ovoid skirt wide at the hips and narrowing around the knees, the sampot in an elevated position at the back curving down to below the navel and the elegant central pleat. According to Boisselier the highly decorative style of Banteay Srei inspired the development of Baphuon-period sculpture, a manner which became more embellished with decorative elements as it reached a zenith during the Angkor Wat period a century later, see Helen Ibbitson Jessup and Thierry Zephir, editors, Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia - Millennium of Glory, Washington 1997, page 255.

The modeling of the torso, the curled end of the sampot above the belt, and the long central fold recall Banteay Srei sculpture, see Emma C. Bunker and Douglas Latchford, Adoration and Glory, The Golden Age of Khmer Art, Chicago, 2004, page 175, fig. 8.6.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related Baphuon style sandstone figure of a female divinity, dated 11th century, 49.1 cm tall, in the National Museum of Cambodia, inventory number Ka.829 / 298.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Bonhams London, 8 November 2004, lot 477
Price: GBP 27,485 or approx.

EUR 58,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A superb monumental sandstone torso of a female deity, Khmer, Angkor Period, Baphuon style, 11th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of carving, and stone, with similar pleated sampot and fishtail fold. Note the size (104 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie's Paris, 11 December 2013, lot 351
Price: EUR 31,250 or approx.

EUR 39,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A sandstone torso of Uma, Cambodia, Khmer, Baphuon style, 11th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related modeling, manner of carving, and stone, with similar pleated sampot and fishtail fold. Note the smaller size (60 cm).

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