Angkor revisited: how master craftsmen are forging Khmer antiquities

[geovalin]

 

Cristina Maza

 

Several workshops near Siem Reap are masterfully replicating Angkorian-era sculptures. Many end up on the international market. But are their forgeries a crime?

 

Dusty statues litter the floor of Di Bun Pheav’s workshop, arms snapped off of their blackened torsos. A statue of Ganesh lies near a pedestal with a pair of feet attached. Pieces of broken statues are everywhere. To the untrained eye, the yard looks like an archeological site, with stone elbows jutting out from under shrubs and mounds of dirt. But despite the wear and tear they exhibit, the pieces are barely a year old.

 

“If someone dug these up from the ground, they would think they’re originals,” says Pheav, whose friends call him Terry.

For 12 years, Terry has worked to perfect his craft, artificially ageing statues so that professional archaeologists have trouble distinguishing them from pieces from the Angkorian period, which lasted from the ninth to the 15th century.

 

Terry is part of a small group of Siem Reap sculptors who are creating high-end reproductions of antiquities. In workshops around the province, they carve and age sculptures that perfectly duplicate ancient works. Their statues are then sold to art dealers in Thailand, many of whom market the items to tourists and art dealers as genuine Angkorian or pre-Angkorian pieces. Sometimes, the items are sold to European dealers who can sell them for millions of dollars to museums and auction houses in the United States and Europe.

 

VERY LONG EXCELLENT ARTICLE http://www.phnompenhpost.com/post-weekend/angkor-revisited-how-master-craftsmen-are-forging-khmer-antiquities

 

 

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