Head of a Follower of Shiva (900s): Art, History and Details

Head of a Follower of Shiva (900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Khmer patrons and artists produced works of art that could depict either a deified king or a god who has royal attributes. The Khmer cult of the god-king allowed for such fluidity of interpretation. Presence of a third eye in the forehead and matted locks of hair are attributes both of the Hindu god Shiva and the followers who emulated him in order to get closer to him.

Object facts

• Title: Head of a Follower of Shiva
• Date: 900s
• Culture: Cambodia, Angkor, 10th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: sandstone
• Dimensions: Overall: 25 x 18 x 16 cm (9 13/16 x 7 1/16 x 6 5/16 in.); Block: 13 x 14 x 12 cm (5 1/8 x 5 1/2 x 4 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Cambodian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2012.294

A detail from the museum

The third eye on the forehead is a symbol of enlightenment.

Collection credit

Gift of Dr. Norman Zaworski in honor of Dr. Stanislaw Czuma

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. Ancient Cambodian Sculpture. New York: Asia Society; distributed by New York Graphic Society, 1969.
• Czuma, Stanislaw J. Indian Art from the George P. Bickford Collection: Catalog. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1975.
• “Art of Asia Acquired by North American Museums, 2011-2012.” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 63, no. 2, 2013, pp. 215–276.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.