Statuette

72-13-2

From: Thailand | Chiengmai

Curatorial Section: Asian

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Object Number 72-13-2
Current Location Collections Storage
Culture Hindu
Provenience Thailand | Chiengmai
Date Made -1972
Section Asian
Materials Brass
Iconography Sang Tong
Description

Brass representation of Sang Tong, Prince of the Golden Conch (a northern Thai folkstory of a boy born in a conch shell and his miraculous exploits). Small metal representations of this story are a kind of talisman. An anthropomorphic image is shown in torso in cased in what appears to be a free adaption of a Sankha (conch) shell. Perhaps the figure is Garuda. The eagle vehicle-mount Vahan of Vishnu. The figure holds the hands in Anjali Mudra and appears to have a beak-like nose-both characteristic of Garuda; moreover the sankha is one of the traditional ayudahas (accoutrements) associated with Vishnu.

Credit Line Gift of Watson Kitner, 1972

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