Cultural object
Brahma (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Brahma is a Khmer sandstone sculpture of the god Brahma from Cambodia, now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[1] It dates to the first quarter of the 10th century, in the Angkor period.[1]
The object
Brahma, the Brahmanical god of creation and ancestor of all universes, stands with four faces and four arms, a form that shows his universality.[1] He wears a knee-length skirt-cloth, the sampot, drawn up between the legs and tied at the back. Pleated pendants in front take a "double-anchor" or "fishtail" form.[2] His piled-up dreadlock hair is bound with a string of pearls and has several faces of its own, one for each face below it. Each face wears a large diadem, and speckling on the lower face shows that he is bearded.[1][2]
The figure measures 120.7 by 53.3 by 22.9 centimeters (47.5 by 21 by 9 inches).[2] Its catalog reference is 36.96.3.[1]
Iconography
The four sides of the figure express the idea that Brahma is present throughout the universe.[2] The sculpture would have stood in a smaller shrine within a temple complex, likely one dedicated to Shiva.[2]
Date and origin
The sampot is in the Bakheng style, which was widely favored in the early 10th century. The style takes its name from sculptures linked with the Bakheng temple.[2]
Provenance
The sculpture entered the museum through the Fletcher Fund in 1936 and is held by its Asian Art department.[2] As of 2022 it was on view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 249.[2]