A MONUMENTAL (215 CM HIGH) AND IMPORTANT WOOD SCULPTURE OF BUDDHA MUCHALINDA, POST-ANGKORIAN PERIOD
This lot is a museum deaccession and is therefore offered without reserve

Cambodia, circa 17th to 18th century or earlier. Powerfully carved, seated in ardha padmasana on the scaled coils of Muchalinda, his hands lowered in dhyanamudra. The face sensitively modeled in a serene expression with almond-shaped eyes finely inlaid with deep sapphire-blue glass pupils and full bow-shaped lips forming an enigmatic smile. The hair pulled up into a conical chignon decorated with petals and beading behind the wide, flaring tiara richly carved with similar designs as well as floral and foliate bands. Backed by the well-detailed seven-headed naga hood, the central serpent decorated with a sun wheel, the back similarly intricately carved with overlapping scales and an ornate lotus medallion.

Provenance: The Kienzle Family Collection, Stuttgart, Germany. Acquired between 1950 and 1985 by siblings Else (1912-2006), Reinhold (1917-2008), and Dr. Horst Kienzle (1924-2019), during their extensive travels in Asia. Subsequently inherited by Dr. Horst Kienzle and bequeathed to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, Germany. Released through museum deaccession in 2024. The Kienzle siblings were avid travelers and passionate collectors of Asian and Islamic art. During their travels, the Kienzle’s sought out and explored temples, monasteries, and markets, always trying to find the best pieces wherever they went, investing large sums of money and forging lasting relationships to ensure they could acquire them. Their fervor and success in this pursuit is not only demonstrated by their collection but further recorded in correspondences between Horst Kienzle and several noted dignitaries, businesses and individuals in Nepal and Ladakh. Their collection had gained renown by the 1970s, but the Kienzle’s stopped acquiring new pieces around 1985. Almost thirty years later, the collection was moved to the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Radevormwald, opened by Peter Hardt in 2014. Before his death in 2019, Horst Kienzle bequeathed his entire property to Peter Hardt and legally adopted him as his son, who has been using the name Peter Kienzle-Hardt ever since.
Condition: In good condition, consistent with a monumental wood statue exposed to the elements over centuries. Displays expected signs of weathering, including flaking, age cracks, and splits with associated old fills. Minor losses are present, along with extensive remnants of pigment and lacquer. Small repairs are visible, unobtrusive wood sections may be later additions—typical for statues of comparable age and scale. The wood has developed a fine, naturally grown dark patina.

Weight: approx. 340 kg (incl. base)
Dimensions: Height 215 cm (excl. base)

With an associated base. (2)

Expert’s note:
The present sculpture, though of later date and larger size, closely resembles Angkor Wat-style examples in bronze and sandstone, such as those published in Helen Ibbitson Jessup and Thierry Zephir (ed.), Sculpture of Angkor and Ancient Cambodia: Millennium of Glory, 1997, pp. 268-270 and 272, nos. 73, 74, and 76, or the figure sold at Zacke, 11 March 2022, lot 568. A statue of Buddha protected by the naga was the main cult image of the Bayon temple, and Jayavarman VII identified himself with it (ibid., p. 272). Embracing Buddhism with fever, he aligned himself with the image of the Buddha seated on a serpent, as the divine form under which he would be venerated. Compare a 12th-century sandstone figure of Buddha Muchalinda, originally from Puor near Siem Reap and now in the National Museum of Cambodia.

Muchalinda is the name of a naga sheltering the Buddha from the elements after his enlightenment. When a storm raged and torrential rain fell for a whole week, the king of the nagas, Muchalinda, rose from the earth, coiling its body to form a seat and swelled its great hood to shelter Buddha. When the great storm had cleared, the serpent king assumed his human form, bowed before the Buddha, and returned to his palace. In Cambodia, the naga, in the form of a multi-headed hooded cobra, was considered the spirit of the irrigating rivers and canals as well as a rainbow-bridge to heaven. Seven-headed nagas are often depicted as guardian statues, carved as balustrades on causeways leading to main Cambodian temples, such as those found in Angkor Wat.

Literature comparison:
Compare a related earlier post-Angkorian wood figure of Buddha on Naga, dated 14th-16th century, 92 cm high, in the Takeo Provincial Museum, inventory number MTK.215. Compare a related post-Angkorian monumental wood figure of a standing Buddha in the National Museum of Cambodia.