10th-12th century AD. A carved sandstone statue of Shiva in four-armed Harihara manifestation, a composite of androgynous forms of Shiva and Vishnu; Vishnu wearing a cylindrical headdress and Shiva having his matted hair tied in a topknot; a simple sampot secured at waist, holding a war discus in the left hand, the other hands, now absent, would have been holding the other martial kingly attributes: battle club and conch-shell trumpet; mounted on a custom-made display stand. See The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 1993.387.4, for an earlier and more elaborate example of Ardhanarishvara.9 kg total, 51.5cm including stand (20 1/4"). Property of an East Sussex gentleman; from his private collection formed between 1983 and 1990; formerly in a South East London collection formed in the 1970s.