Marble engraved into history of Posat

POSAT, Cambodia - When it comes to marble engraving, nowhere in Cambodia quite compares to Pursat province, where many of the province’s families have an ancestral background in the trade. The routines of life based around marble engraving are centuries-old but the career still is very popular throughout the province, particularly for those residing in Kandieng district.

Almost 70 per cent of the people living in Banteay Dei are engravers but they have not learnt from schools or a faculty of fine arts, but instead from friends, families, or grandparents. Because their carving skills are often a family’s principal source of income, almost all people in the area regard it as their life’s work.

A sharp chipping sound welcomes visitors to Banteay Dei. With metal chisel and hummer in his hand, 36 year-old Ban Ber says he started his career 10 years ago and that he acquired the skill by watching other people. He said the marble stones people used for carving were bought from larger blocks dug from the Cardamom Mountain range. One kilogram of blue marble costs 2000 riel (US$ 0.50) and for one kilogram of simple marble costs from 800 to 1000 riel, he added

Ban Ber went on to describe that, amongst all marble, blue marble was the best quality, adding that each time he bought two tons of marble to put in his store, sculptures were made from it including bowls, urns, glasses, teapots, trays, and many other kinds of statues. In modern times, most sculptors use electric tools instead of hand engraving, he says.

He said that the level of intricacy involved in his marble engraving often depends on the orders from middle-men and that it is difficult for individuals to find their own markets. He added that his family had abandoned farming and now concentrates on the marble trade for their living.

He added that when engraving, one must be highly committed, patient and industrious and for those who were light-hearted or aggressive could not do the job well. He now has two apprentices, but before had many, after having learnt the skills from him, they left him to start their own businesses. But now he has new students to learn the skill from him, he added. He also added that his family’s standard of living and that of Banteay Dei villagers had vastly improved through marble engraving and as a result most people in the village can send their children to school.

All the statues engraved in Banteay Dei village are bought by middle men to sell in Phnom Penh and in Siem Reap though he added that Cambodian and foreign tourists often visited the village and bought the statues.

Another sculptor, named Soa, aged 56 and living in Banteay Dei Leu, said, he first began studying engraving in 1968 during the time of Sangkum Reas Niyum, a time of relative political and economic stability referred to by many as Cambodia’s ‘golden age.’ He has continued his career as a sculptor since then.
Sao said that before starting to carve the marble, sculptors must draw outlines on the marble and after that chisel the marble base before repeated polishing to make the surface smooth before redecoration with other styles to make it look more attractive to potential customers.

Sao went to say that sometimes sculptures ordered by the clients were difficult to engrave because he had to strictly follow pictures, to achieve this, he had to do the job painstakingly, said Sao.

Sao went on to say that he has in the past mostly engraved Buddhist sculptures, often with dragon heads. A sculpture of Buddha decorated with dragon heads can be sold at US$70.00, he said, of which US$20 covers the cost of the marble.

Grandpa Morm Eang, a 75 year-old marble sculptor also living in Banteay Dey, said that all of his three children had picked up the trade. When he was young, he had always earned his living from constructing monastery temples and that when he became old he had picked up his skill as a marble sculptor to support his family.

He added that is searching for documents from the from the late 1930s relating to or illustrating the statues ancient sculptures in Cambodia’s temples. Though He said that for the time being he had been trying to engrave the Angkor Wat out of marble. To do this, he had to draw many pictures of Angkor on the stone and then carve it with until a representation of temple came into being, Sao said. The skill of marble stature engraving will would serve as a great means to preserve Khmer cultures and heritage so that all Khmer children in the next generations could see and recognize all of those great masterpieces, he added.

Oum Srey Neang, the owner of the a souvenir shop in the Toul Tompung (Russian) market, said that she bought lots of her marble statues from business partners from Pursat and that for some other statues she has ordered the sculptors in Pursat province carve particular kinds of statues.

Oum Srey Neang said that most foreign clients preferred buying Khmer statues and very occasionally Khmer guests bought one or two statues to use as a gift for other people. She added that as Pursat was famous for its marble statue engraving most of the statues in her shop were bought from there.

By Hem Chantheoun