My visit this week to the Angkor National Museum in Siem Reap – which I recommend for all visitors to temple town – allowed me to see for myself this outstanding piece of high-quality workmanship of the stone sculptors of the late tenth century. My earlier research into this beautiful Banteay Srei-style decorative pink sandstone lintel at the Angkor museum, was stumped by the unknown provenance on its signage. It might be sensible to assume it came from an Angkor temple, such as Prasat Sralao, where other fabulously-carved lintels from the same era have been found. However, an EFEO picture of the lintel in January 1939 tantalizingly provides the temple name of Prasat Angkunh. However, a mystery ensued. There is no temple of that name in Cambodia but there is a brick-built temple from the 8th century called Prasat Angkunh (aka Prasat Ankun) located just over the border in the Vietnamese province of Tay Ninh (the temple is now known as Binh Thanh). The temple was cleared and renovated in 1938 by EFEO’s Henri Mauger, who at the same time was clearing temples in Cambodia. So, the question is - did he bring this lintel exhibit with him for storage at the Angkor Conservation depot? I think it’s likely that he did.
Whatever the journey, it’s now on display at the Siem Reap museum, having been borrowed from the nearby Angkor Conservation depot in 2007. The elegance and refinement of the sculptor’s work is typical of the Banteay Srei school, with key historical figures amidst the deep vegetation motifs, reminiscent of wood carving techniques. At the center is Indra half-kneeling, half-standing on the three-headed elephant Airavata, atop a Kala head spewing two foliage branches from its mouth, ably assisted by two lions. Indra is intricately-detailed with an overhanging flap on his pleated sampot, body jewelry of necklace, chest and belly chains, arm bangles and bracelets, pendant-drop earrings and a jeweled diadem and conical chignon, whilst holding a vajra (thunderbolt) in his right hand. The elephants are also bejeweled with head and body adornments. The bulging eyes of the Kala monster are deliberately frightening, as are the fierce-looking open-mouthed lions. At the end of each branch is a winged-Garuda fighting to subdue a Naga, his perpetual enemy. In the middle of the upper register is Shiva and his wife Uma, sitting side-saddle on the bull Nandin, with twelve seated Rishi ascetics and two standing Garudas in their own individual niches. Definitely one of the best lintels in the Angkor museum’s collection.
