Arak Thalo Brahma:
Another of the Brahma sculptures targeted by looters during the early 1970s at the Angkor Conservation Depot in Siem Reap was this already-damaged example. In his role as creator of the world and the lesser-known member of the Trimurti beside Vishnu and Shiva, he is always depicted with four heads and this was the bonanza that saw at least four Brahma statues lose their heads from the Conservation depot during the civil war and Khmer Rouge period of the 70s. Originally collected from a small temple north of the Angkor complex called Arak Thalo, or Prasat Saen Samran, the standing sculpture was dated to the tenth century and held at the Conservation HQ, though missing his four arms and other superficial damage. In fact, the face at the front was badly disfigured and a large fragment was missing from the chignon. However, that didn’t stop thieves from breaking the statue into pieces and stealing the head. The braids of hair are arranged in horizontal lines on the quadruple chignon, while the rest of the hair is in vertical lines to form the fringe. The chignons open out towards the top and have a lotus flower on the very top and a rosary at the base. The beard and moustache are thin, the lips are smiling and each face has two ears with lobes that are pierced and elongated. A belted, double-anchor fronted sampot is drawn up between the legs and secured with a butterfly knot, front and back. In two of his hands he would’ve held a book and rosary beads, with a scepter and water jug in the others and may’ve been accompanied by his mount, a goose and a statue of his wife, Sarasvati, in the temple where he was worshipped. Today, the broken body is without the head, which is very likely locked away in a private collection of art. The head was included in the 1997 second-edition book, One Hundred Missing Objects: Looting in Angkor, published to highlight to museums and galleries around the globe, the 100+ treasures that were stolen from the Conservation HQ at various times.Credit By :Andy Brouwer