SCVA - Female Torso - 276 - 12th C, Cambodia

SCVA - Female Torso - 276 - 12th C, Cambodia

Description

I scanned this with my iPhone from the Sainsbury Center at the UEA in Norwich. In real life it is a beautiful statue of part of a female torso from 11C Cambodia (see full info below). I made several attempts to print this as I wanted to print it as large as possible. I found in the end the best way was to print it upright, however, this used an absolutely insane amount of support material and took 4 days to print on my Ender 3 Pro. This delicately modelled torso, perhaps from an image of Laksmi, consort of Vishnu, is a product of the mature phase of the ancient Khmer civilisation and most probably dates from the mid eleventh century. Evidence for this is indicated by the style of the sampot, or loincloth, which rises high over the hips at the back and is tied with a butterfly-shaped knot at the front. This is typical of sculptures from the Baphuon, a massive ‘temple-mountain’ which was built at Angkor during the reign of Udayâdityavarman it (1050-66), son and successor of Suryavarman 1, to represent the holy Mt Meru, home of the gods and centre of the universe. The Baphuon was dedicated to Shiva and would have housed the royal linga, phallic symbol of Shiva, with whom the ruler was identified in the new cult of god-king. This sculpture thus predates by almost one hundred years the completion of Angkor Wat, the most celebrated of the great Khmer temples, which was built during the reign of Suryavarman 11 (1113-45). The builders of the Baphuon, although employing sculptors of genius, lacked the engineering skills for a temple on the scale planned, and the loosely packed earth core was eroded by rain and undermined by subsidence from the weight of masonry. It had to be rebuilt at least three times in the short reign of its royal patron (Marchai, 1955: 66-7), which was also plagued by a series of provincial rebellions. In spite of this, the great temple of Baphuon, the ‘bronze temple’ as it was apparently known, survived well enough to make a profound impression on the Chinese ambassador Zhou Daguan when he visited Angkor, the Khmer capital, in the middle of the thirteenth century (Chou Ta-Kuan, 1992). Today, its badly fissured remains lie just northwest of the Bayon, the central temple of the vast Angkor Thom complex built during the reign of Jayavarman vn (1181-1219). The Ecole Française d’Extrême Orient is soon to recommence reconstruction of the Baphuon, which was started in 1962 but abandoned in 1972 because of political unrest. This torso is likely to be from a standing figure which adorned the Baphuon or a related temple. Sockets in the shoulders show that arms were formerly attached, though their original position is uncertain. The top of a long pleated skirt is visible above the break (for a complete figure, see Groslier and Arthaud, 1966: pl. 32). Curiously, the absence of limbs and head seems to enhance the impact of what Auboyer (1950: 20) has described as its slender yet opulent proportions and the subtlety of the modelling of its delicate curves. Jacques (1990) and Rooney (1994) provide further information on Angkor and its temples. Entry taken from Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection 3 volume catalogue, edited by Steven Hooper (Yale University Press, 1997).

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