Vishnu
sculptor
Unknown
Dateabout 1200
Place MadeAngkor Wat, Cambodia, Southeast Asia
MediumBronze
Dimensions7.6 x 4 cm (3 x 1 9/16 in.)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberM17e12
eMuseum ID719026
EmbARK ObjectID12155
TMS Source ID1294
Last Updated8/14/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryThis small standing Vishnu has four arms, two raised to the shoulders, and two held in front. A club is held in one of the lower arms. Though not especially impressive (parts of the legs are missing), this is one of the first pieces of Angkor sculpture to enter an American museum.1
Isabella Gardner was given two religious sculptures in Cambodia in 1883. She tucked a note into her Southeast Asian album that reads: “Vishnu from Angkor Thom. Little Vishnu and piece of native iron from the Camb. interpreter Mr. Hunter.” Her diary confirms that in Phnom Penh Hunter gave her a Vishnu (p. 256, presented November 22). The piece of iron is displayed in the same case in the Short Gallery of the Gardner Museum.
1 Cataloguing advice has been kindly provided by Stanislaw Czuma, Vishakha Desai, and John Guy.
Source: “Objects from Cambodia and Java,” in Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia, edited by Alan Chong and Noriko Murai (Boston: ISGM and Gutenberg Periscope, 2009): 456
Isabella Gardner was given two religious sculptures in Cambodia in 1883. She tucked a note into her Southeast Asian album that reads: “Vishnu from Angkor Thom. Little Vishnu and piece of native iron from the Camb. interpreter Mr. Hunter.” Her diary confirms that in Phnom Penh Hunter gave her a Vishnu (p. 256, presented November 22). The piece of iron is displayed in the same case in the Short Gallery of the Gardner Museum.
1 Cataloguing advice has been kindly provided by Stanislaw Czuma, Vishakha Desai, and John Guy.
Source: “Objects from Cambodia and Java,” in Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia, edited by Alan Chong and Noriko Murai (Boston: ISGM and Gutenberg Periscope, 2009): 456
BibliographyNotesGilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), p. 125. (identified as a figure of Siva, Cambodian, Khmer, 12th-13th century)
Yasuko Horioka et al. Oriental and Islamic Art: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1975), pp. 46-47, no. 20. (as12th-15th century)
Hilliard Goldfarb and Susan Sinclair. Isabella Stewart Gardner: Woman and the Myth. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1994), pp. 17 ill., 37 cat. 19. (as 12th-15th century)
Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 256, 456 fig. 1.
Yasuko Horioka et al. Oriental and Islamic Art: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1975), pp. 46-47, no. 20. (as12th-15th century)
Hilliard Goldfarb and Susan Sinclair. Isabella Stewart Gardner: Woman and the Myth. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1994), pp. 17 ill., 37 cat. 19. (as 12th-15th century)
Alan Chong and Noriko Murai. Journeys East: Isabella Stewart Gardner and Asia. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2009), pp. 256, 456 fig. 1.
ProvenanceNotesGiven to Isabella Stewart Gardner by Mr. Hunter, the court interpreter and guide to Angkor at Phnom Penh, Cambodia on 22 November 1883, along with a "piece of native iron" (see M17e70).
