A SANDSTONE STATUE OF LAKSHMI OR DURGA, PHNOM DA STYLE, 7TH CENTURY The statue's fragmentary condition provides no final proof to whether it depicts the goddess Durga or Lakshmi. The statues of both deities, like the present lot, have four arms (caturbhuja). The emphasis on the physical characteristics of the deity's femininity, however, may indicate it is indeed Lakshmi, as she is the personification of female beauty and as such, the consort of Vishnu. Provenance: Belgian private collection, by repute acquired during the earlier 1970s. Thence by descent. Condition: Wear, natural weathering, losses and fissures as well as extensive patina all around. Overall as expected for a statue from this period. Scientific Report: A certificate of analysis (certificat d'analyse) issued by Re. S. Artes, Bordeaux, France, on May 19th, 2016, number R 142481A-2, ascertains that the samples analyzed were exposed to a "long period" of aging and are "consistent with an age of 800 years or more". A copy of this report is accompanying this lot. Weight: 27.4 kg (incl. base) Dimensions: Height 86 cm (incl. base) and 76.5 cm (excl. base) The lack of ringlets peering from under the elongated, cylindrical mitre (kiritamukata) and the elegantly swung drapery of the loop that fixes the sarong both point to a possible origin from Funan, and a dating of the present statue to the mid to late 6th century. Mounted on an associated metal base. (2) Literature comparison: Angkor. Goettliches Erbe Kambodschas, Kunsthalle der BRD, Bonn 2007, p.61-62. Art and Archeology of Fu Nan, J. Khoo, Bangkok 2004, p. 47. Dupont, P., Art de Dvaravati et Art Khmer, Les Buddhas debout de l'epoque du Bayon, Revue des Arts Asiatiques, X, p. 63-75. Dupont, P., La Statuaire Preangkorienne, Ascona 1955, Planche XXXIX B, XLIII A. Entdeckungen, Skulpturen der Khmer und Thai, Stuttgart 1989, p. 50-52. Angkor, De Fabiani, Vercelli 2002, p. 31.