Deatched head of male deity, sandstone sculpture, 10th or 11th century, Cambodia

This finely carved head of an unidentified male deity typifies the achievements of the Khmer stone sculptors who worked in unison with the achitects and stone masons who ralised the great temple complexes of the Khmer kingdom. The face displays a remarkable degree of naturalism ( witness the subtly realised moustache and beard) which contrasts with the elaborately tiered crown which resembles the tapering form of a khmer prang or temple tower. It is sculpture of restraint and authority.

Purchased with Art Fund support

This object was formerly in the collection of Gilbert Beatty (1887–1967), born Richard John Beatty (also spelled Beattie). Between 1911 and 1951, Beatty worked in various administrative positions at rubber plantations and in government in Malacca, Malaysia. He assembled a large collection of South-East Asian art before the Second World War. In the late 1950s, he became friendly with his neighbours, the Knight family. David Knight (d. 1993), who was then a child, took a particular interest in Beatty’s collection, which he often saw during visits to Beatty’s home-cum-guest house, ‘Palm Beach.’

In 1960, Gilbert Beatty gave much of his collection to David Knight. The objects were shipped to the UK with the rest of the Knight family’s possessions later that year aboard HMS Oxford Castle. Beatty reportedly donated the remainder of his collection to a local museum. Between 1991 and his death in 1993, David Knight donated or sold much of the Beatty Collection to the Victoria & Albert Museum.

See Victoria & Albert Museum registered file numbers 1991/2044, 1993/599, 1993/600, 1993/823

Cambodia

IS.73-1993