Cleveland Museum of Art

Vishnu

Date

650–700

Medium

sandstone

Culture

Cambodia

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Vishnu has the features of royalty, indicated by the high mitre-like crown with the flat top, distinctive to types made at the site of Prasat Andet. His status as a god, greater than any earthly king, is indicated by the four arms, traces of which are still visible. The sensitive rendering of the eyes and slight smile are characteristics of Cambodian sculpture, and during this early period, the form of the body reveals some relatively naturalistic musculature and treatment of the garments. He wears the Southeast Asian lower garment called sampot , around which his upper garment is loosely tied. It is Vishnu who incarnates himself into the world in avatars, including Krishna and the boar Varaha. Here we see his iconic form as Vishnu himself. The deity is four-armed with the arms running parallel from the shoulders and then bifurcating at the elbows.

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