VISHNÚ

The expansion of Indian culture and religions in Southeast Asia was the germ of the great cultural empires of the area, with the Mon and Khmer empires standing out for their cultural and artistic importance. Geographically they correspond to the current countries of Cambodia, Thailand and Laos, so it is difficult to delimit the current borders in primitive pieces. This piece, created as a votive stele, has the god Vishnu as the main character, holding in each of his hands his own iconographic attributes, such as the mallet and the conch shell representing the five elements. Vishnu is wearing a truncated pyramid-shaped cap derived from the original crowns with which he is represented in India, a pectoral, the naked torso and covering the lower part of the body a “sampot” that revolves around the waist and is fastened with a fibula at the waist. On either side of the image of the god, and maintaining the principle of hierarchy in terms of size and position, are two smaller figures representing two of his acolytes. The technique adopted by the artist is somewhere between the totally cut figures and the tradition of the stelae from India. In this case, as in other figures in the style of Phonm Dà, the artist placed the figure cut out, framed by an arch and slats that hold the head and lower limbs horizontally. The sculptural treatment of the figure, as well as the anatomical details drawn in broad strokes, contrast with the scarce detail on the back of the piece, indicating that in its original location it was only contemplated from the front. All the iconographic, stylistic and technical characteristics suggest that this piece is in the style of Phonm Dà, the name of a hill located a few kilometers from the capital of Cambodia, where the remains of an artificial grotto and one of the oldest stone buildings known today (6th and 7th centuries A.D.) have been found. I.C.F. / Extracted from: Isabel CERVERA FERNÁNDEZ: Fundación Rodríguez-Acosta. Asian Art Collection. Granada, 2002. Bibliography: MAZZEO, D.: Khmer Civilization. Valencia, 1972, pp. 30?31.