HEAD OF A DEITY

This carved head was unearthed on 24 April 1941 in Building E, located in the south-western inner courtyard of the Preah Khan temple. On 16 September 1946, it was officially presented to Commander Jean Sarrat as a token of gratitude for services rendered. The gift was made by Jacques Lagisquet, then curator of the Angkor monuments group, with the approval of Georges Coedès, director of the École française d’Extrême-Orient. The head rests on its original wooden base, made by the Sarrat family. It is simply placed on it, with no fastening system or drilled holes. The inventory number 3869 is painted on the back of the sculpture.

Archival documentation:

1911. First known plan of Preah Khan Temple. Lunet de Lajonquière, Étienne, Inventaire descriptif des monuments du Cambodge, vol. 3, p. 140, fig. 43. Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France.

24 April 1941. Journal de Fouilles No. XV by Maurice Glaize, years 1939–1942, pp. 197–198. École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO), BANYAN, EFEO digital library.

30 April 1941. Typed report of the Conservation du Groupe d’Angkor by Maurice Glaize, p. 2. EFEO, BANYAN, EFEO digital library.

April 1941. Photograph of the deity head taken in April 1941 by an anonymous photographer. EFEO Archives, Cambodian photographic collection, inv. EFEO_CAM17481. Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient.

1941. Angkor Conservation — Sculpture Depot — Registration ledger of stored objects. Begun in 1934, this inventory of objects deposited at the Angkor Conservation is now held in the archives of the Maison de l’Asie, Paris. Inventory no. 3869 is recorded there, together with a note dated 16/09/1946: “To be given, see certificate no. 620”.

1942. Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, vol. 42 (1942), pp. 223–230.

February 1942. Plan of the buildings in the south-west quadrant of the 1st enclosure of Preah Khan Temple. EFEO, BANYAN, EFEO digital library.

August 1946. Typed report by J. Lagisquet, Conservator of the Angkor Monuments Group.

16 September 1946. Letter from Jacques Lagisquet, Conservator of the Angkor Monuments Group, to Commander Sarrat.

16 September 1946. Original certificate of non-classification no. 620, issued by the EFEO Archaeological Service of Angkor (then directed by Georges Coedès).

17 September 1946. Letter from Jacques Lagisquet to Commander Sarrat