NARRATOR:
This impressive finial with a rearing five-headed naga once decorated the corner of a temple in either Thailand or Cambodia. The naga, a many-headed cobra with an outspread hood, is closely associated with the realm of water, its natural habitat. It is a common motif in Southeast Asian art and architecture.
The five naga heads diminish in size as they fan outward, forming an elegant arch surrounded by a band of luxurious foliage carved with great precision. The intricate carving and the complete integration of form and motif gives us an idea of the building’s original splendor.
The main serpent head spews forth a gem-studded garland, for the creature is thought to be a guardian of the earth’s treasures. In the mythology of the Khmer, as the majority of the people of Cambodia are known, the naga is also worshipped as an equivalent to the rainbow, representing the bridge between the world of men and the world of the gods. In Khmer architecture, nagas are often depicted at the ends of balustrades, causeways, and on finials. There, they symbolize the devotee’s passage from the realm of the secular to the realm of the divine.
Antefix with Five-headed Serpent
c. 1100
Asia: Thailand, Buriram; Asia: Thailand, Surin
On View
Symbols of abundance and fertility, multi-headed rearing serpents (nagas) are common decorative motifs found on both Hindu and Buddhist temples in mainland Southeast Asia. The central serpent of this antefix holds a garland of jewels in its mouth as both an offering to the icon housed within and as a reminder of the merit one can achieve through worship at the temple. This type of inward-leaning antefix was introduced to Khmer temples around 1100.
Details
- Title: Antefix with Five-headed Serpent
- Date: c. 1100
- Medium: Sandstone
- Dimensions: overall: 42-1/2 x 21-1/2 x 21 in. (108 x 54.6 x 53.3 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1983.23.S
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
- Pal, Pratapaditya, Asian Art: Selections from the Norton Simon Museum, fig. 15 pp. 71-72
- Bunker, Emma and Douglas Latchford, Adoration and Glory: Ancient Cambodian Sculpture, 2003, no. 87 pp. 254-255
- Pal, Pratapaditya, Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, Volume 3: Art from Sri Lanka & Southeast Asia, 2004, no. 107 pp. 108, 144-145
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 1635 p. 429
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