Cultural object
Male Deity (Cleveland Museum of Art)
Male Deity is a Cambodian sandstone statue of a male god, dated 925 to 950 and held by the Cleveland Museum of Art.[1] The museum assigns it to the Koh Ker-Khleong style of the 10th century.[1]
The object
The statue measures 135 centimeters (53 1/8 inches) in overall height.[2] The museum's "Did You Know?" note says the god seems to be striding, his left leg set slightly forward.[1]
The museum writes that two features of the lower garment, a distinctive pleated swath of fabric and ends shaped like anchors, suggest the statue was made when this style of sampot wrapping was in fashion.[1] The museum's accession number is 1994.202.[2]
Temple setting
The museum writes that at the time this style of wrapping was in fashion, temples in Cambodia were devoted to Hindu gods, whose images stood by themselves on pedestals in temple sanctums.[1] It adds that gold tokens were placed beneath the pedestal at the consecration, and that people toppled many sculptures, breaking them, to reach the gold.[1] The museum does not say that this statue was broken.[1]
Date and style
The museum dates the statue to 925 to 950 and gives its culture as Cambodia, Koh Ker-Khleong style, 10th century.[2]
UNESCO's World Heritage listing names the site "Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Lingapura or Chok Gargyar."[3] UNESCO writes that King Jayavarman IV founded Koh Ker in 921.[3] From 921 to 928 the Khmer Empire had two competing capitals, Koh Ker and Angkor, and Koh Ker was the only capital until 944. After that, the empire's seat of power returned to Angkor.[3] UNESCO describes Koh Ker Style sculpture as bold and expressive, with a lively sense of movement.[3] It writes that the style took shape over a span of 23 years during the 10th century and had a lasting influence on later Khmer art and on art elsewhere in Southeast Asia.[3] UNESCO's text is about the site and its style, not about this statue, which the museum labels Koh Ker-Khleong style.[3][1]
Provenance
The museum's record lists a private collection in Europe from 1968 to 1994.[2] John Eskenazi Ltd. of London sold the statue to the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1994, and the museum accessioned it on December 6, 1994, as a purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund.[2] The museum's object page carries a note that its information on the object, including its provenance, "may not be currently accurate."[1]
Literature
The museum's record cites an item titled "New Acquisitions Enter the Cleveland Museum of Art's Permanent Collection," dated February 14, 1995, in the Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.[2] It also cites two articles by Stanislaw J. Czuma in the museum's members magazine: "A Cambodian Male Deity," in Cleveland Art of May 1996 (volume 36, number 5), which mentions and reproduces the statue on page 7, and "Slayer of the Buffalo Demon," of April 1997, which reproduces it on page 9.[2]
Display
The museum's record lists the statue in its atrium.[2] Under the museum's Open Access Initiative, the work may be copied, changed and shared without asking permission, and the record marks it CC0.[1][2]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 Cleveland Museum of Art, Male Deity (undated)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Cleveland Museum of Art, Male Deity, Open Access record 1994.202 (May 29, 2026)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Koh Ker: Archaeological Site of Ancient Lingapura or Chok Gargyar (undated)