PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
91

A LIFE SIZE SANDSTONE FIGURE OF VARUNA
KHMER, ANGKOR PERIOD PRE-RUP STYLE 3RD QUARTER OF THE 10TH CENTURY

It is believed that this nearly complete guardian figure was discovered and documented by the French in 1896 against the western wall of the collapsed temple of East Mebon. Unfortunately the piece vanished from the site in 1951 and resurfaced in the garden of the Democratic Peoples Republic of North Korea’s restaurant “Pyongyang” in Siem Reap in 2012. Earlier this year Kim Jong-Un decided, reluctantly, to take it to auction for the benefit of the Republic. Varuna was considered the sovereign of the world beyond, and had magic powers and created the forms of the visible world. He meted out judgment and punishment and was seen as somewhat despotic wielder of magic.

81” (206cm.) high (with Tenon)
$ 220,000 - 300,000
PROVENANCE: In dispute

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PROPERTY OF THE SULTANATE OF BRUNAE
111

A COLOSSAL SANDSTONE HEAD AND RIGHT HAND OF JAYAVARMAN VII
KHMER, ANGKOR PERIOD, BAYON STYLE LATE 12TH-EARLY 13TH CENTURY

These two elements are all that remain of a colossal figure of the king. Found together in 1979, the head and hand were on either side of the rubble pile of the torso. Sadly, soldiers/looters had used explosives to dismember the statue, and not realizing the great weight and difficulties of jungle transport had to leave the pieces in place as they fled from villagers who heard the blast. The complete work presented a monarch in an attitude of respect, sitting with legs crossed, torso leaning forward, with one hand (destroyed) upturned in his lap and holding above it the other (surviving) hand with a ruler and a string of prayer beads. Khmer kings often posed as various deities. The upturned surviving hand is recognized as an attribute of Vishvakarman, the architect of the gods.

The head: 39” (100cm.) high / The hand: 20” (51cm.) high
$ 800,000-1,200,000
PROVENANCE: None

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PROPERTY OF AN AMERICAN LADY
428

A SANDSTONE MUKHALINGA KHMER, PRE-ANGKOR PERIOD 7TH - 8TH CENTURY

This work was discovered behind a false wall in the collection of the long deceased Vicontess Catrine Yelloz du Pantecourte. The piece was probably collected in the 19th century and given to the Vicontess, a patron of the collecting expeditions. The Hindu god Siva was generally represented by his symbol the Linga. Mukhalinga in the form of a realistic phallus with a face belong exclusively to the Pre-Angkor Period, and this is a very fine example of the genre. The cult of the Mukhalinga worshiped a phallus capable of inseminating the earth and making it fruitful.This Linga was removed by the expedition from its position inserted into the Yoni (the representation of the female organ) that was left behind in the Cambodian Jungle.

60” (52.5cm.) high
$90,000-125,000
PROVENANCE: unknown

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PROPERTY OF A MUSEUM COLLECTION
46

A SANDSTONE HEAD OF BUDDHA KHMER, ANGKOR PERIOD, POST - BAYON STYLE 2ND HALF OF THE 13TH -14TH CENTURY

This work was discovered in 2001 at the site of a Khmer Iron foundry, it was removed from the excavation pit and disappeared for ten years, it was finally rediscovered in the collection of a European land speculator in Siem Reap. The hair consists quite properly of small curls, evenly covering. The head and the usnisa. These Buddhas were the first to draw the attention of the West with their subtle plasticity and smiling natural faces.

8 1/2” (21.5cm.) high
$24,000 - 34,000
PROVENANCE: Acquired in Siem Reap 2011

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PROPERTY OF A THAI COLLECTOR
28

A SANDSTONE TEMPLE DOORWAY FROM BANTEAY CHHMAR (CITADEL OF THE CAT)
KHMER, BARYON STYLE LATE 12TH - EARLY 13TH CENTURY

This impressive work was discovered disassembled behind the residence of the Governor of Thailand’s Buri Ram Province. This ensemble disappeared from a large shipment of looted Banteay Chhmar temple sections seized at the Thai border in 1998. Missing for fifteen years, it was brought to auction in Bangkok in 2011 to raise funds for the Governor’s presidential election campaign. The weathered threshold is worn by thousands of feet over the centuries, and the Sanskrit and Khmer texts describe its dedication in 1192 to the parents of King Jayavarman VII.

112” ( 284.5 cm.) high
$1,100,000 - 1,600,000
PROVENANCE: None

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PROPERTY OF A THAI COLLECTOR
28

A SANDSTONE TEMPLE DOORWAY FROM BANTEAY CHHMAR (CITADEL OF THE CAT)
KHMER, BARYON STYLE LATE 12TH - EARLY 13TH CENTURY

This impressive work was discovered disassembled behind the residence of the Governor of Thailand’s Buri Ram Province. This ensemble disappeared from a large shipment of looted Banteay Chhmar temple sections seized at the Thai border in 1998. Missing for fifteen years, it was brought to auction in Bangkok in 2011 to raise funds for the Governor’s presidential election campaign. The weathered threshold is worn by thousands of feet over the centuries, and the Sanskrit and Khmer texts describe its dedication in 1192 to the parents of King Jayavarman VII.

112” ( 284.5 cm.) high
$1,100,000 - 1,600,000
PROVENANCE: None

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THE PROPERTY OF THE KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA
143

A SANDSTONE FEMALE DEITY
KHMER, BAPHUON STYLE
11TH/12TH CENTURY

Having been originally shipped out of Siem Reap Cambodia in 1987 as a high-end reproduction this exquisite Devi figure holding a lotus petal in its upturned hand was authenticated by the Cambodian Antiquities Authority in 2001 (they had located its foot pedestal in the jungle). The work was subsequently auctioned in London and purchased by a Collection in Luzern Switzerland. An anonymous collector then purchased the work from the Swiss Collection to allow its repatriation and finally the piece was returned to Cambodia.

45” (114 cm) tall (with the tenon)
$248,000 (to repatriate)
PROVENANCE: Acquired in Luzern and repatriated in 2015

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PROPERTY OF TWO GENTLEMAN
104

A SANDSTONE FIGURE OF UMA
KHMER, ANGKOR PERIOD, BAPHUON STYLE, 11TH CENTURY

Recently dug up by two brothers in far-western Cambodia this sensitively modeled figure is wearing an ankle length sampot with finely incised pleats. Her bare torso is modeled with delicate contours and her face carries a serene expression, her hair is finely braided and is tied back in a domed chignon (obscured by the hand) and secured with by a circular incised band, the body smoothly polished.

41 1/2” (105 cm) high
$40,000 - 60,000
PROVENANCE: Chhatna and Son, Ltd. London, acquired quietly, Siem Reap 2012

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THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
92

A PAIR OF SANDSTONE FIGURES OF VISHNU
KHMER, ANGKOR PERIOD, KULEN STYLE, 9TH CENTURY (FACING FIGURE)
KHMER, ANGKOR PERIOD, KLEANG STYLE, 11TH CENTURY (REAR FIGURE)

Found soaking in a strong acid bath in Battambang provence Cambodia, it can be assumed that these two large figures are in-process forgeries. As such they are offered here at a fraction of their worth as originals. We must assume given their present circumstances that the iconography of these Vishnu deities remains constant. With the Cakra (disk) and the Sankha (conch) and other accoutrements missing, the cylindrical miter and conical lotus leaf chignon-cover nonetheless confirms their identities.

57” (145 cm.) high (facing figure)
76” (193 cm.) high (rear figure)
$45,000 - 60,000 (for both in their current state)
PROVENANCE: None

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THE PROPERTY OF THAI GENTLEMEN
16

A SANDSTONE FIGURE OF VISNU
KHMER, BAKONG-ANGKOR VAT STYLE
11TH-12TH CENTURY

Wearing a finely pleated sampot tucked under an incised belt with an unadorned scabbard, this large museum quality piece was removed to its present location from a looted archeological excavation at Banteay Chhmar in 1996. The torso of this stylistically transitional piece is bare and finely polished, with the facial features finely modeled and the hair plaited and drawn in to a cylindrical chignon, centered by a seated Amitabha and secured by a foliate crown. Surviving its looting Visnu's two remaining attributes the Sankha (conch) and the Cakra (disk) are still in the deities upraised hands.

56 1/2” (144 cm) high
$130,000 - 150,000
PROVENANCE: Please call for clarification

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THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
320

A SANDSTONE FIGURE OF BRAHMA
KHMER, PRE RUP-KLEANG STYLE
10TH-11TH CENTURY

This looted and badly damaged work was recently removed from the back of an antiquities shop in Siem Reap Cambodia. The deity is clothed in a traditional Khmer Sampot Can Kpin with a fishtail fold in the rear. The bare torso is elegantly contoured and the surface is smoothly polished. There is significant surface separation (blistering) on one of the four faces.

67” (170 cm) high
$40,000 - 60,000 (in its current state)
PROVENANCE: M.R. Mun Collection, acquired in Siem Reap 2012

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THE PROPERTY OF A SIGNIFICANT EUROPEAN COLLECTION
23

A SANDSTONE FIGURE OF AVALOKITESVARA
KHMER, PRE-ANGKOR PERIOD, PHNOM DA STYLE, 7TH-8TH CENTURY

Discovered in 2009 by the Cambodian military during the contruction of an airfield near the village of Tan Long north of the early Oc Eco site, the statue was buried two meters deep. This piece unlike its avatar at the Guimet Museum is broken into three sections and it missing its right arm with its attributes. It is said that this Bodhisattva of compassion was create by "a ray from Amitabha's right eye during a state of ecstatic contemplation".

67” (170 cm) high
$120,000 - 140,000
PROVENANCE: None

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PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN COLLECTION
67

A SERIES OF EIGHT (8) FOOT BASES
KHMER, ANGKOR PERIOD
ANGKOR THOM
LATE 12TH CENTURY

These foot bases are all that is left of the small, devotional scultptures broken off at their ankles and sold by looters. These bases (a poignant reminder of past looting activity) were recovered during extensive renovations at the Angkor Thom complex in the 1960's. Authorities determined that these objects (stolen from "secure" warehouses in Siem Reap) were transported out of Cambodia on Thai military vehicles in 2009, and were offered for sale in Switzerland at that time.
The sizes are variable, with the average being 25" (63.5cm) tall, including the tenon bases.


$40,000–60,000 for the group
PROVENANCE: None

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