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Yaksha or Lakshmi

6th century
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
This female bust belongs to a small corpus of sandstone reliefs from early Cham sites in central Vietnam that likely represent generic yakshas and yakshis (nature spirits). This yakshi displays a radiating sunlike nimbus, denoting her divine status. A related crowned male from the same site may represent Vishnu, and thus this female would be his consort, Lakshmi. Shrines were built for both in early fifth-century central India, and paired icons from that time are extant. Both became major cult deities in later Cham art, and this icon may signal their recent arrival in the Cham territories.

cat. no. 16

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Yaksha or Lakshmi
  • Date: 6th century
  • Culture: Central Vietnam
  • Medium: Sandstone
  • Dimensions: H. 18 1/2 in. (47 cm); W. 19 11/16 in. (50 cm); D. 8 1/4 in. (21 cm); Wt. 132 lb. (59.9 kg)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Lent by Museum of Cham Sculpture, Da Nang, Vietnam (802.D43)
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art