Object Details
- Previous custodian or owner
- Albert Bouasse-Lebel (1868-1955)
- Paul Mallon (1884-1975)
- Provenance
- As early as 1898
- Found and excavated by an unidentified French official near Biên Hòa, Ð?ng Nai Province, Vietnam [1]
- By 1919 to 1930s
- M. Bouasse-Lebel (1868-1955), purchased from the unidentified French official [2]
- 1930s-1937
- Paul Mallon (1884-1975), from M. Bouasse-Lebel, method of acquisition unknown [3]
- From 1937
- Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Paul Mallon [4]
- Notes:
- [1] In a letter dated 15 April 1937, from the art dealer Paul Mallon (1884-1975) to the Freer Gallery of Art, Mallon notes that the French official was digging for moonstone when he discovered this bronze along with several other sculptures sometime during the year 1898. The letter also notes that the sculptures entered into Lebel's collection in 1919. Sherman Lee dates the discovery of the buried objects to 1919 instead. See Sherman Lee, "A Cambodian Bronze Hoard" in Art in America Vol. 31, no. 2 (1943), pp. 78-83. This sculpture was discovered along with six other Khmer bronze images that were excavated from a site in Vietnam. The group includes Buddhist and Hindu deities and ritual objects, all of which are small in scale. Little research has been done on the origins of the group--where the sculptures were made, how they were used, and why or how they traveled remains unknown.
- [2] See letter from Paul Mallon and Lee article referenced in note 1. M. Bouasse-Lebel may be the dealer and collector Albert Bouasse-Lebel and/or a member of the family operating the Bouasse-Lebel printing and engraving firm on Rue Saint-Sulpice in Paris.
- [3] See "Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List After 1920," notations in object file.
- [4] The Freer Gallery of Art purchased from Paul Mallon on June 2, 1937. See notation on the object receipt, April 14, 1937, copy in accession file.
- Research completed October 29, 2021.
- Credit Line
- Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
- 12th century
- Period
- Angkor period
- Accession Number
- F1937.29a-d
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Sculpture
- Metalwork
- Medium
- Bronze
- Dimensions
- H x W: 13.2 x 30 cm (5 3/16 x 11 13/16 in)
- Origin
- Cambodia
- Related Online Resources
- F|S Southeast Asia
- Google Cultural Institute
- See more items in
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Topic
- Buddhism
- Buddha
- casting
- Angkor period (802 - 1431)
- Cambodia
- dhyana mudra
- Southeast Asian Art
- WWII-era provenance
- Record ID
- fsg_F1937.29a-d
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ye3b1f7cfbb-7a54-4d0d-b29d-340f56a5f4b4
