Early tenth century, and lacquer Khu'o'ng My style.Pierre added later, H. 33 cm, W 24.7 cm, D. 11.4 cm.Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Ernest Larsen Blank Memorial Fund, Frank, 62.14.3.

The fierce looking round and bulging eyes, and the exposed fangs identify this sculpture as the head of an asura or demon, and the shape of the headgear places it in the early Xth cen­tury Khu'o'ng My style. While this asura cannot be compared completely to the Dông Du'o'ng Dharmapâla (Boisselier 1963 a : Fig. 49), a certain air de famille tends to place this piece doser to the Dông Du'o'ng style. Given the position and the depth of this head seen in profile, it would appear that it belonged to a standing figure carved in relief, not to a free standing image, nor was it attached to architecture like another milder looking asura head. (Cham Sculpture , Hanoï, 1988: Fig. 86).

"Some Remarkable Cham sculptures in American Museums" Natasha Eilenberg, Robert L. Brown

 

 

 

Article de "La Lettre de la SACHA" n°6, décember 1999, page 6.