The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

404 CEYLON AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA
When we come to the sculpture of Angkor
Wat, the reliefs have completely burst their
boundaries and are extended over the entire
surface of the wall: even the figures of apsaras,
sometimes still placed in niches, for the most
part stand free of any encompassing framework
[334]. In many details of costume, gesture, and
pose, these celestial nymphs are the immortal
sculptural counterparts of the dancers in the
modern Cambodian ballet at Phnom Penh. The
individual forms could be described as completely
Khmer ethnically as well as stylistically.
The square faces with wide eyes and enormous
lips are seen in the Khmer Buddha type as well.
This combination of the stereotyped smile, the
delicacy of proportion, and the affected elegance
of gestures lends a certain wistful charm and
piquancy to the conception quite different from
the much more frankly sensuous Indian conception
of female beauty. The individual
apsaras are relatively flat in carving, and the
rendering of details of costume and ornament
provides a foil for the generalized treatment of
the nude portions of the bodies.
The famous reliefs of the cloister at Angkor
Wat extend like a continuous stone tapestry
around the entire lower circumference of the
building [335]. They are executed in a few
planes of very low relief, with some of the elements
no more than incised on the surface; this
technique, together with their strongly pictorial
character, suggests that they may have been
intended as a more permanent substitute for
wall-paintings. It has been supposed from the
generally unornamented interiors of Khmer
shrines - in contrast to the richness of exterior
decoration - that it was probably customary to
decorate the insides of sanctuaries with paintings
that have not survived the dampness of the
climate and the ruin of the fabric.
The iconography of the building and its
destination can be understood partly from an
334. Angkor Wat, apsaras
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