Off to Paris:
On Tuesday of this week I visited the National Museum in Phnom Penh when a series of large packing crates were being prepared to house 125 Khmer bronze works of art which the museum is sending on-loan to the Guimet Museum in Paris. Key bronze artifacts from the museum’s collection had already been removed from the display cabinets and will very soon be heading to France for the much-anticipated exhibition, Royal Bronzes of Angkor - an Art of the Divine, which will open its doors at the Guimet on 30 April and continue until 8 September 2025. Of the exhibition’s total of 250 Khmer bronzes, 126 pieces including the West Mebon Reclining Vishnu, which is already in Paris undergoing extensive renovation ahead of being the exhibition’s centerpiece, will be from the Cambodian collection.
They will include this gorgeous rarely-seen Dvarapala guardian figure, which was only recently on display in the National Museum's exhibition of Returned Cambodian Sculptures. It is a beautifully crafted bronze with a golden appearance, perfect from a frontal view though I was surprised to see it from behind, where the whole piece is deliberately cut-away to reveal the core of the image, which appears to have left-over clay residues inside. The golden colouring is created by mercury gilding during the casting process, which adds a thin layer of precious metal, in this case gold, to the base bronze surface. The Dvarapala maintains the aspects of a fearsome Asura, with the facial features of large bulging eyes, the furrow on the forehead and fangs protruding from the mouth, combined with flowing locks, raised hair curls and rosette earrings, all consistent with the need to instill fear into anyone entering his temple domain. The conical stupa-like chignon is more attuned to a Deva, a more-benign guardian, though the remaining decoration, both jewelry and clothing, could be worn by either. The substantial necklace with pendants, upper arm bands, bracelets and anklets are common features on these guardians. The pleated sampot has a single fishtail central flap and a decorated belt with large pendants hanging below. His weapon is a large mace, though it could also be a trident but missing its three prongs. It’s an exquisite bronze, two-feet in height and was returned to Cambodia in 2020 but from whom I don’t know; presumably a private collector. The casting is dated by the museum to the Bayon art style of the late 12 – early 13th century. Two additional features are a hook-eye at the top of the chignon, which might suggest that the figure was a hanging sacred feature within a temple setting, while a few letters of ancient Khmer script are to be seen on the left leg.
