Figure of a dvarapala
Kampuchea (Cambodia), Khmer empire, late 12th–early 13th century
Gray sandstone
32 1/4 x 22 x 15 in. (81.92 x 55.88 x 38.1 cm)
Gift of David T. Owsley and the Alvin and Lucy Owsley Foundation in honor of Mrs. Eugene McDermott, 1994.256

Between 1100 and 1400, the artists and builders of the great temples and sculptures created for Khmer rulers at Angkor produced many masterpieces of religious art. In them Hindu and Buddhist religious images were blended in a unique Kampuchean style. This outsize head resembles the great line of demon (asura) figures lining the bridge at Angkor that leads to Angkor Thom and the Bayon temple. In that sculptural complex, the demons balance a line of gods (devas) on the opposite parapet. These two forces are engaged in a struggle over the elixir of immortality, in a myth relating to the Hindu god Vishnu, a patron deity of the Khmer kings. Dvarapalas are beneficent protective spirits and gate guardians whose ferocious appearance drives off evil. The dramatic power of this head reflects a later period of Khmer art at Angkor than the classically calm figures of Angkor-period art.