Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Enthroned Planetary Deity
Not on view
This mustached figure, like its companion (cat. no. 155), sits in royal ease (rajalilasana) and wears a heavy multitiered crown and circular ear disks styled as radiating flowers. The pedestal is decorated with a grotesque mask (kirttimukha) in foliage, in the Javanese style. The original setting of these figures suggests they are either directional guardians (dikpalaka) or planetary deities (navagraha). Contextual evidence from the ground plan and archaeological remains at the site provide sufficient evidence to support their identification as navagraha, the planetary deities referred to in the monastery’s foundation inscription as providing protection to the sacred center.
cat. no. 156
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