Lintel - Prasat Sralao

• Height (cm): 81.5, Depth (cm): 185. Sandstone
• 10^th century
• Provenance: Prasat Sralao, Siem Reap Province
• Location: National Museum of Cambodia, Phnom Penh
• Catalogue Number: NMC Inventory Ka.1819
• Status: On display
• Photo credits: Andy Brouwer

For sheer artistry and exceptional beauty, this 10th-century pink sandstone lintel from Prasat Sralao is the most beautiful example of a decorative door-lintel on show at the National Museum. It was collected from the now-ruined temple by the curator of the Angkor site, Henri Marchal, in March 1937 and after a short stay at the Conservation depot in Siem Reap, was transported to the Phnom Penh headquarters for display to the general public.

Whilst the main subject is the god Vishnu riding atop his mount, the winged Garuda (usually termed as Garudavahana), it’s the deep and richly intricate carving of every element that stands out as the perfect specimen of the Banteay Srei style of that era in Angkorian history. The temple of Banteay Srei is encrusted with gorgeous carvings but the Prasat Sralao lintel comes from a very small temple just outside the main Angkor Park, though built during the same time period, and rivals anything that its mother temple can produce. It’s almost a certainty that the same craftsmen worked on both temples simultaneously.

The central motif shows a four-armed Vishnu, holding four attributes in his hands, and sitting on top of Garuda, who holds and supports the right foot of the god above him. On the lotus foliage branch either side are tiny heads of three-headed serpents called Nagas, and at the end of the branch is another Garuda, carrying in his mouth, a larger three-headed Naga. The upper frieze is decorated with twelve male dancing figures. All of this is exquisitely sculpted in the Banteay Srei style that is rightfully acknowledged as among the finest that the Khmer Empire had to offer. Sralao denotes a type of tree, popular around Angkor and which produces wood used for construction. Any top-quality woodcarver would be proud to have produced such elegant and delicate carving as the master stonemasons of the Banteay Srei era in history.