{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O24971"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O24971/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AT7664/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AT7664/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AT7664","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O24971/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O24971","accessionNumber":"IS.39-1994","objectType":"Sculpture","titles":[{"title":"Tantric Goddess","type":"generic title"},{"title":"Ghasmarī","type":"alternative title"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"The goddess Ghasmarī stands in a dancing posture with her proper right arm raised above her head holding a snake, and her left hand holding a skull cup in front of her chest. Her right leg is raised up to her left knee, and her right foot stands on a corpse. She wears a short, drawn-up wrap skirt (<i>sampot</i>) and is adorned with armbands, bracelets, and anklets, and wears a pointed crown. This solid cast bronze sculpture would have formed part of a larger ensemble, likely comprising eight goddesses surrounding a many-armed Hevajra as described in a tantric Buddhist text called the Hevajra Tantra, which appears to have been  important during the reign of the Khmer king Jayavarman VII (r. c. 1122-1218).","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"copper alloy","id":"x40014"}],"techniques":[{"text":"lost wax","id":"AAT53113"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Copper alloy, solid lost-wax cast","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"},{"text":"Figures","id":"THES274372"},{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Bronze","id":"THES49033"},{"text":"Buddhism","id":"THES48984"}],"styles":[{"text":"Late Angkorian","id":"x32263"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2006AT7664"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"002","id":"THES394900"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Figure","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Cambodia","id":"x30020"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""},{"place":{"text":"Thailand","id":"x30017"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"12th century","earliest":"1100-01-01","latest":"1200-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"11","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"maximum","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"4.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"maximum","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bought from Alex Biancardi, who acquired it in the mid to late 1960s.\n\nAlexander Biancardi (1924–1999) was a collector and dealer who had a particualr in interest in ancient and medieval religious sculpture from South and South-East Asia. The V&amp;A holds a substantial group of objects associated with him which were acquired through purchases, gifts, and bequests from Biancardi and his family between the late 1980s and late 1990s. Several of these objects are currently on display.\r\n\r\nBorn in Alexandria, Egypt, Biancardi moved to Australia in 1947, where he entered the textile trade. In the early 1960s, he relocated to France and worked for a Dutch textile company with business interests in Asia. His exposure to the region led him to begin collecting Asian art in the 1950s, a pursuit he continued into the 1990s. He returned to Australia later in life.\r\n\r\nPreviously identified as a female spirit (<i>apsara) </i>and reidentified by Peter Sharrock (2024). This sculpture can be compared to a complex Hevajra sculpture at the Cleveland Museum of Art (Museum No. 2011.143).","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Tantric Goddess, copper alloy, Thailand or Cambodia, 12th century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"J. J. Boeles. 'Two Yoginīs of Hevajra from Thailand.' <i>Artibus Asiae</i>, vol. 26 (1966): 14-29."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Peter Sharrock. 'Hevajra at Bantéay Chmàrr.'<i> The Journal of the Walters Art Museum</i>, vol. 64/65 (2006): 49-64."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Marie-Thérèse de Mallmann.<i> Introduction à l'iconographie du tântrisme bouddhique</i>(Paris: Bibliothèque du Centre de recherches sur l'Asie centrale et la Haute Asie, 1975), 183-185.\n"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["IS.39-1994"],"accessionNumberNum":"39","accessionNumberPrefix":"IS","accessionYear":1994,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-07-11","recordCreationDate":"2000-02-13","availableToBook":true}}