Antique Khmer Style Koh Ker Style Shiva Statue — Standing Four-Armed Shiva in Bronze - 44cm/18"

Measures (Height) 44cm/18"

Cast in the monumental spirit of 10th-century Koh Ker — the ephemeral Khmer capital founded by King Jayavarman IV between 928 and 944 CE — this commanding four-armed Shiva stands in samapada, the posture of perfect equilibrium, his feet planted evenly upon a tiered square yoni base. The Koh Ker period produced some of the most dynamically charged and large-scale sculpture in all of Khmer art history, and this bronze captures precisely that quality: a deity at once serene and charged with divine force.

The four arms radiate outward with quiet authority, each hand bearing a sacred attribute. In his upper right hand Shiva holds a conch shell (shankha), symbol of the primordial sound of creation; his upper left presents the chakra (divine discus), emblem of cosmic order and the wheel of time. His lower right hand carries holy writings, representing the wisdom that underpins all existence, while his lower left cradles a lotus bud, the universal symbol of spiritual purity and the unfolding of consciousness from the primordial waters.

The figure is dressed in a short sampot rendered with meticulous detail — its distinctive fishtail pleat falling in crisp, fan-shaped folds at the front, secured by a jewelled sash that catches the light across the deeply patinated bronze. This hallmark draping of the Koh Ker style echoes the can kpin technique documented on major sandstone sculptures of the same period, demonstrating this casting's fidelity to authentic iconographic tradition.

The torso is bare and finely contoured, its surface ornamented with a broad jewelled collar necklace — a tiered arrangement of pendant beads and foliate motifs worked in high relief — alongside beaded armbands and wristlets that lend the figure its courtly, divine authority. The casting of the chest and abdomen is smooth yet alive with subtle musculature, suggesting the restrained power and self-possession for which Koh Ker sculpture is celebrated.

The face is among the most arresting elements of the piece. Wide and softly contoured, it carries the indigenous Khmer character that distinguishes genuine devotional bronzes from later imitations: heavy-lidded eyes cast in a serene, downward gaze; arched eyebrows carved in relief that meet in a gentle arch above a broad, well-shaped nose; and full lips turned in an enigmatic, composed smile, framed by a second incised line that gives the expression its quality of still inner luminosity. Set at the centre of the brow, the Trilochana — the third eye of Shiva, the eye of wisdom — blazes as a raised mark, the symbol of his penetrating insight beyond the veil of Maya, illusion, and the duality of manifest existence. It is simultaneously the source of his untamed energy: when opened in wrath, it is said to reduce the universe to ash; when composed as here, it radiates transcendent clarity.

The headdress is a defining feature of Koh Ker iconographic convention. The tightly braided hair is gathered and wound into a tall, cylindrical chignon — the jatamakuta — rising in horizontal registers and secured by a ribbon tied at the base. The clean vertical column of the topknot gives the figure its imposing height and confirms the identification of Shiva in his sovereign, world-ruling aspect.

Shiva stands upon a stepped square yoni base — the aniconic representation of the goddess Shakti, his cosmic consort and the feminine principle of dynamic universal energy. In Shaivite cosmology, the yoni is not merely a pedestal but an active symbol: it embodies the primordial creative, sustaining and transformative force (shakti) from which all existence emerges and into which it ultimately dissolves. To stand the lord of destruction and renewal upon this base is to present the totality of the cosmos in a single devotional image — masculine and feminine, stillness and energy, form and formlessness, held in perfect balance.

The patina is a deep, layered verde-bronze — warm olive tones on raised surfaces, darker pools of green-brown settling in the recesses of the jewellery, pleats and facial detail — consistent with age and devotional use, and entirely characteristic of the finest Khmer bronzes held in museum collections internationally. The casting quality is exceptional: fingers, facial features, pendant jewels and sampot pleats are individually rendered with a precision that marks this as the product of the traditional lost-wax (cire perdue) method rather than mechanical reproduction.

This is a piece of singular presence. Whether positioned as the centrepiece of a home altar, displayed in a dedicated meditation or sacred space, or placed as a serious sculptural statement in a private collection or professional interior, this four-armed Koh Ker Shiva brings with it the resonance of one of the most creatively charged moments in the entire history of Southeast Asian sacred art.

Galleries such as ours, HD Asian Art, which specialise in authenticated Buddhist and Hindu bronze sculpture from across the region, are among the few sources where works of this iconographic quality and artistic integrity can be reliably found

SATISFACTION GUARANTEE - We have been offering SE Asian Art for many years and are proud of the reputation we have developed for fair and honest listings. However, if for any reason, whatsoever, you are unhappy with your purchase please just let us know and we will provide a full refund. We want you to be 100% happy with your purchase.