{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O24957"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O24957/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BF1394/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BF1394/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BF1394","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JK5820","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O24957/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O24957","accessionNumber":"IS.169-1991","objectType":"Sculpture","titles":[{"title":"Figure of Brahma","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"This sandstone sculpture represents the Hindu god Brahma, identifiable by his three heads. The heads are adorned with hair arranged in a high, flat-topped bun and though the arms are broken below the shoulder, the earlier presence of four arms, an attribute traditionally associated with Brahma's iconography, is clear. The figure wears a belted sampot that clings closely to the contours of the body. The soft physiognomy of the sculpture and the treatment of the hair, demonstrates stylistic affinities with the sculptures found at Banteay Srei, a 10th-century Hindu temple site located in the Angkor region of northern Cambodia.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"sandstone","id":"AAT11376"}],"techniques":[{"text":"sculpture","id":"AAT53618"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Sandstone","categories":[{"text":"Hinduism","id":"THES48941"},{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"}],"styles":[{"text":"Bantaey Srei","id":"x32235"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2006BF1394","2016JK5820"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"I","id":"THES397254"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Figure","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"Late 10th century","earliest":"0950-01-01","latest":"1000-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with the assistance of the Henry Moore Foundation from the David Knight Collection","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"91","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"33","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"19","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"99","unit":"cm","qualifier":"with modern base","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"This object was formerly in the collection of Gilbert Beatty (1887–1967), born Richard John Beatty (also spelled Beattie). Between 1911 and 1951, Beatty worked in various administrative positions at rubber plantations and in government in Malacca, Malaysia. He assembled a large collection of South-East Asian art before the Second World War. In the late 1950s, he became friendly with his neighbours, the Knight family. David Knight (d. 1993), who was then a child, took a particular interest in Beatty’s collection, which he often saw during visits to Beatty’s home-cum-guest house, ‘Palm Beach.’\r\n\r\nIn 1960, Gilbert Beatty gave much of his collection to David Knight. The objects were shipped to the UK with the rest of the Knight family’s possessions later that year aboard HMS Oxford Castle. Beatty reportedly donated the remainder of his collection to a local museum. Between 1991 and his death in 1993, David Knight donated or sold much of the Beatty Collection to the Victoria & Albert Museum.\n\nSee Victoria & Albert Museum registered file numbers 1991/2044, 1993/599, 1993/600, 1993/823","historicalContext":"Brahma is the Hindu god of creation and, together with Siva and Visnu, formed the triad of principal Hindu deities.  Aspects of the Indian religious system were adopted by the Khmer rulers of Cambodia early in the course of the first millennium and by the Angkorian period had evolved into a sophisticated system of god-king worship (devaraja).  This state cult generated elaborate complexes of temples, in which sculptures played an important role in consecration and other rituals.","briefDescription":"Brahma, sandstone sculpture, late 10th century, Cambodia","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"Cambodia","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["IS.169-1991"],"accessionNumberNum":"169","accessionNumberPrefix":"IS","accessionYear":1991,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-15","recordCreationDate":"2000-02-13","availableToBook":true}}