Repatriated Vishnu: A number of the large stone repatriated works of art have yet to be unveiled to the public at the National Museum, since their arrival in July of this year. This sandstone four-armed Vishnu is one of those as yet unseen statues, that are a victim of the lack of display space at the National Museum. Vishnu was the preserver god of the Hindu trinity of deities, that also included Shiva and Brahma, and so sculptures of Vishnu are among the most common from the seventh century onwards. He can be found with two arms or four, as in this example, which stylistically, is dated to the early twelfth century, in the Angkor Wat art style. Originally part of the extensive private collection of billionaire couple George and Frayda Lindemann, displayed in their Palm Beach, Florida mansion, the family returned 32 stone sculptures and 1 bronze, whilst providing details to the authorities of other antiquities that were previously in the family’s possession, but are now with new owners. Lindemann senior, a gas and oil executive, died in 2018 aged 82. He and his wife, Frayda, were major forces in the art world as collectors and donors to museums such as the Met Museum in New York. Photographs of the Lindemann’s home showing many of the Khmer treasures in-situ, appeared in editions of Architectural Digest magazine, which eventually prompted investigators to get the authorities involved. The series of exceptional Khmer artworks were sold to the family by none other than Douglas Latchford, the disgraced dealer-cum-smuggler, who ran an international trafficking network from his headquarters in Bangkok for more than fifty years. They were purchased over several decades by Lindemann senior, who’s believed to have paid at least USD20 million for them. The 33 artworks were voluntarily handed-over in September 2023, after a successful culmination of more than three years of investigative work by the Money Laundering and Transnational Criminal Enterprises Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. They arrived back in Cambodia on 26 July 2024. As for Latchford, he was never held accountable for his nefarious activities, as he died in August 2020. The sculpture was removed from an unknown temple and whisked away through Latchford’s connections to the USA via Thailand. In the process it lost three of its four arms, broken off at the forearm, leaving only the lower left hand intact and holding onto the pommel of an octagonal mace. Remarkably, it kept its head as well as its legs and pedestal, which were often lost during the looting of temples. The figure is adorned with a wide decorated diadem and a pagoda-style conical chignon cover behind. The round face has a serene smile, a broad forehead, straight eyebrows, closed eyes, long intact earlobes and a moustache and beard. The statue stands upright, with a slim build compared to earlier examples, though the chest and shoulders are robust and powerful. The pleated sampot is knee-length with a double fishtail front pleat and incised side pockets below a wide belt.Credit By :Andy Brouwer