



Ardhanarishvara (Composite of Shiva and Parvati), Pre-Angkor period, 7th–8th century
Cambodia
Bronze
Cambodia
Bronze
H. 29 1/2 in. (74.9 cm)
Gift of Enid A. Haupt, 1993 (1993.387.4)
This sculpture is a fusion of Shiva and Parvati; the female part (the figure's proper left side) shows Parvati's elegant hairstyle, breast, broad hip, and long skirt, while the male half has Shiva's part mustache, matted hair, broad chest, slim hip, and third eye. The intellectualized male half is unmoving but is given a manifest existence through its unification with the active female presence (prakrti).







