Friday 23 January 2015

Pongpat Chayapan's "Khmer treasures" Probably Fakes


Laignee Barron ('Statues are ‘treasures’...' Phnom Penh post Fri, 23 January 2015) presents opposing views about some seized artefacts:
Five artefacts recovered in Thailand during the investigation into former intelligence chief Pongpat Chayapan were preliminarily identified as long-lost Khmer treasures, according to the Thai Fine Arts Department. [...]  “experienced curators” identified 104 objects among thousands recovered in the Pongpat loot that could be genuine. The five picked out as being in the “Khmer style” depict a Buddha, a Shiva, a Brahma and an unknown “4-arm cult image[s]”. 
Not everyone agrees that they are what they seem:
 Cambodian experts who reviewed pictures of the artefacts [...] said the statues are obvious fakes, however. “I don’t know why they think the statues might be real,” said Kong Vireak, director of the National Museum. [...] “I’ll be short. Those statues are new,” said Bertrand Porte, from Ecole Francaise d’Extreme-Orient. 
While investigations are still ongoing, Thailand has refused Cambodian experts access to the objects. See also here. 

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