The Deceivers by Harold Robbins Page A

did.
    â€œTheir religion was an adaptation of Buddhism from India and in that region a Buddhist temple is called a wat. The most famous temple complex is Angkor Wat built in the early twelfth century under King Suryavarman II.”
    â€œSo Cambodians are Khmers, Angkor is where they expressed their art in the grandest way, and a wat is a temple.”
    I knew generally most of what he related but would never have gotten the king’s name right.
    â€œThat’s the big picture. Angkor Wat is also famous for having the longest bas-relief panels in the world. Most of the sandstone carvings were once painted and gilded. They depict historical episodes in the life of King Suryavarman, scenes from Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata , the exploits of the Hindu gods Siva and Vishnu with celestial nymphs known as Apsarases, and scenes from the daily life of the Khmer people at the time the complex was built.”
    That was a mouthful. Like I said, his knowledge was encyclopedic.
    He tapped a picture. “Tell me more about the workmanship on the piece you saw.”
    â€œI wish I had a camera that did micro close-ups because the detail was striking. The faces were really well defined and the dancers wore intricate jewelry. I didn’t find any major cracks or repairs in the stone. The surface coloring was in splotches of red, brown, and orange hues.”
    He nodded. “Khmer pieces from Cambodia frequently have this mottled, variegated surface coloring. The colors actually leach from both the inside of the sandstone and minerals from the area where it was removed. But like I said, the stone is easy for a forger to get.”
    As I talked, he quickly flipped through a book.
    â€œAh, here it is. Look at this. A piece from an Angkor Wat temple wall.”
    The image was of three Apsarases. The women portrayed in the book resembled the bas-relief that Sammy had shown me, but I immediately saw tiny differences, which was to be expected: Artists who did the carvings gave their own interpretations of Apsarases, but kept faithful to the mythology that they were exotic dancing girls.
    â€œSimilar, but not the same.”
    I slowly leafed through the book as he went back to examining my pictures with his magnifying glass. Pictures of the dancers had only slight differences in pose and jewelry from Sammy’s piece and the others in the book, but I could spot subtle differences that indicated different artists had created them.
    â€œObviously all the Apsaras pieces bear similarities,” I said, “but I don’t see a match close enough to suggest that Sammy’s piece was a copy.”
    He finally set down the magnifying glass and pictures. “I need to see the piece. Even at that, it’s so good, tests would have to be run on it. You realize it’s extremely valuable even if it’s a fake.”
    I nodded. “Far Eastern art is hot on the market.”
    â€œEspecially Khmer art now that the Chinese have not only cracked down on contraband art, handing out death penalties for infractions, but Chinese billionaires are buying up the stuff in foreign hands and taking it back home. The antiquities black market is worth billions of dollars. You even have poor countries tolerating the illegal export of art objects because corrupt government officials are on the take.
    â€œEven countries in Western Europe like Italy and Greece which have the money to protect their cultural heritages are plagued by tomb raiders. The professional tomb robbers like those they call tombaroli in Italy are murdering their own cultural history, but at least the Italian government fights the thieves. That’s not always the case in the poor countries of Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Near East. There’s wholesale looting.”
    Mortimer suddenly jumped on my lap and rubbed his body against me. “Hello, Morty.” As I petted him he purred and kneaded his claws into my thigh. A little