- Title
- Head of Deified King (?)
- Date Made
- 14th century
- Medium
- Gray earthenware
- Dimensions
- 11 x 6 1/4 x 9 in. (27.94 x 15.88 x 22.86 cm)
- Accession Number
- AC1994.234.3
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
This finely detailed gray earthenware head is likely an idealized portrait of a deified monarch. It represents the development of a cult in which deceased royalty were believed to merge with a Supreme Divinity. In the Eastern Javanese kingdom of Majapahit (1293-1527), the stylistic aesthetic moved away from naturalistic South Asian prototypes: figures became more attenuated and angular, and curvilinear background floral forms became common. Stone and earthenware were the preferred media for sculpture.
The head has an elaborate multitiered conical crown replicating royal crowns of precious metals inlaid with gemstones. It has a bejeweled tiara with an upper border of lotus petals, and lotiform plaques in pearl cartouches on the upper dome. The half-shut eyes aptly convey the personage’s contemplative mood, and the highly arched eyebrows enliven his countenance.
A comparable idealized portrait of a Majapahit deified queen is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (2001.407). See also M.81.273 and AC1993.239.13.
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya. Icons of Piety, Images of Whimsy: Asian Terra-cottas from the Walter Grounds Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1987.
