Sculptures from Angkor National Museum:
The next statue on our inventory of the Angkor National Museum is a standing four-armed Vishnu, who used to occupy one of the five sanctuaries that make up the group of small temples of the Preah Pithu group. In a secluded spot opposite the Terrace of the Leper King inside the city of Angkor Thom, the group sees few visitors, even though it’s a peaceful location and still houses some fine carvings. Part of it is off-limits at the moment as a team of conservation experts from the Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation and the Korean International Cooperation Agency are preserving the temple group. Constructed at various times in the 12th and 13th centuries, the clearing of the five temples took place in 1908 by Jean Commaille and in 1919 by Henri Marchal. Parts of our Vishnu sculpture were discovered at different times in 1918, 1919 and 1934 before being transported to Angkor Conservation for restoration and safe-keeping. EFEO pictures show that the hand holding a conch was reconnected to the statue in the mid-1960s giving us the figure we see today, which arrived at the museum in 2007. It’s a tall (170 centimeters), sturdy, finely-sculpted statue of the preserver god, with a higher-than-usual cylindrical chignon above his diadem headdress, and a fairly short sampot with one fishtail and an overhanging fold and pendants hanging from its wide belt. Only one of his arms has been recovered, the one with the conch, his others would’ve held a chakra wheel, a sphere and a club or mace, which have all disappeared. Still in-situ at the Preah Pithu group, you can still see lintels like the one of Vishnu at Temple U (#482) on a rare Churning of the Sea of Milk presentation where the god is sitting on the Naga. Another lintel of Vishnu reclining can be seen at the Guimet Museum. The signage at ANM for this statue details its provenance incorrectly as Angkor Wat.
