Detail of Kneeling Female in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 2010

Kneeling female, Angkor period, second half of 11th century; Khmer style of the Baphuon
Cambodia
Bronze with silver inlay and traces of gold
H. 17 in. (43.2 cm)
Purchase, Bequest of Joseph H. Durkee, by exchange, 1972 (1972.147)

Kneeling with her left leg beneath her and right knee raised, this image of a female deity lifts her hands above her head in a gesture of adoration. She wears a pleated sarong secured by a sash with jeweled pendants. The left hem is folded over, creating a frontal panel of cloth resting between the legs and terminating in the "fishtail" silhouette reminiscent of earlier Khmer styles. In addition, she wears jeweled armlets, bracelets, anklets, and a necklace. Her hair is arranged in vertical bands of a quatrefoil pattern alternating with a bead motif, and originally there was a topknot on her head. Her eyes are inlaid silver, the pupils and eyebrows hollowed out to receive additional inlays, now missing, perhaps of black glass. There seem to be traces of a gold foil, suggesting that this deity may originally have been encased in a gold skin, a technique that is not unusual in Southeast Asia.

The statue dates to the second half of the eleventh century and follows sculptural idioms of the Baphuon temple developed or completed around the middle of the eleventh century.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1972.147