Phnom Penh museum receives pre-Angkoran statues

Four statues, two of Buddha and two of unnamed male deities, discovered in Kampong Speu province have been safely deposited with the National Museum in Phnom Penh. The statues are rare examples that date before the Angkor period.

Museum lauds pre-Angkor statues
Phnom Penh Post, 21 January 2010

Four pre-Angkorian religious statues found in Kampong Speu province on Friday are among the most intact and artistically impressive objects known to have originated from that period of Khmer history, directors at the National Museum of Cambodia told the Post on Wednesday.

Hab Touch, director of the National Museum, was unreserved in his excitement about the seventh-century statues, ranging in height from 40 to 140 centimetres, which reached the museum in Phnom Penh on Saturday.

“There are two sculptures of the Buddha and two male deities. The sculptures are very outstanding in terms of historical and artistic quality. The standing Buddha is one of the best we have, truly a masterpiece of Khmer art.”

Hab Touch said the artefacts were discovered accidentally by residents of Samrang Teung district as they cleared a small mound from a rice field.