I am pleased to notify you of a special seminar entitled “LANGAU: A multidisciplinary approach to copper-based metallurgy in Angkor and the Khmer kingdom (11th-13the century), by Brice Vincent, of EFEO Siem Reap in Cambodia, on 10 October 2017. Please join us.

Special Seminar
LANGAU: A multidisciplinary approach to copper-based metallurgy in Angkor and the Khmer kingdom (11th–13th century)

Speaker: Brice Vincent, EFEO Siem Reap
Date: October 10, 2017
Time: 3:30-5:00
Venue: Tonantei, Inamori Center (2F), Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University

Recent archaeological excavation at the World Heritage Site of Angkor, Cambodia, has discovered the location of a royal bronze foundry without equivalent in Southeast Asia. Active from at least the mid-11th to the early 12th century, the bronze workshop was in close association with the nearby Royal Palace of Angkor Thom, crafting for the King and his entourage both images of the gods and ritual paraphernalia.
This talk will outline the findings of a new research program involving local and international archaeology and conservation specialists from pre-eminent research institutions (École Française d’Extrême-Orient, Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musées de France, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution), by explaining first its theoretical and methodological framework, and then presenting some of the preliminary results obtained by its four complementary components:

“The sources of Angkorian copper: Mining survey in the Vat Phu region” (Laos)
“Casting for the King: Archaeometallurgical study of the Royal Palace bronze foundry at Angkor Thom” (Cambodia)
“From wax to saṃrit: Technical investigations into a corpus of Angkorian bronzes” (Cambodia and neighboring countries)
“Memory of bronze casters: Ethno-archaeological survey of contemporary Khmer foundries” (Cambodia).

The research program LANGAU, inspired by the Old Khmer word laṅgau meaning “copper”, has seized the opportunity afforded by this formidable discovery to develop over the period 2016–2020 a multidisciplinary approach of copper-based metallurgy in Angkorian Cambodia, with a specific focus on the critical period between the 11th and 13th centuries.

Brice Vincent is a Lecturer at the École française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO). He was educated at the Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris III (Doctorat de Langues, civilisations et sociétés orientales, 2012). He was an Andrew W. Mellon Conservation Fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation, in 2012 and 2013, and Post Doctoral Fellow at the Freer and Sackler Galleries, Department of Conservation and Scientific Research, in 2014. He co-leads the research project LANGAU – Fondre pour le roi : étude archéométallurgique de l’atelier de bronziers du palais royal d’Angkor Thom (National Authority APSARA / EFEO, 2016-2019), conducting field investigations at the Royal Palace bronze foundry of Angkor Thom.

Contact: Nathan Badenoch badenoch[at]cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp