Angkor Ruins in Cambodia: 16 original pen-and-ink drawings

Transcending "the boundaries of anticipated beauty"

Original pen-and-ink drawing of the extensive ruins at Angkor, from which several plates in the artist-author's book 'Angkor Ruins in Cambodia' (London: Grant Richards, 1923 / Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1924) were produced. 

Particularly noteworthy are the following: 1) A Corner of Ta Prohm (Figure 31) which measures 300 x 210 mm;

2) The Buddha of Tep Pranam (Figure 30) which measures 300 x 210 mm;

3) An Inner Court, Bayon (Figure 21) which measures 300 x 210 mm;

4) General View, Bayon, which measures 300 x 210 mm.

Also included are: 5) Boar (Figure 19), sheet size: 138 x 105 mm, image size: 38 x 58 mm; 6) Detail from fallen pediment, Bayon, sheet dimensions: 140 x 120 mm, image dimensions: 85 x 65 mm; 7) Scene with bull and elephant, sheet dimensions: 110 x 150 mm, image dimensions: 82 x 116 mm; 8) Jugglers (Figure 13), sheet size: 115 x 203 mm, image size: 85 x 100 mm; 9) Dancing Apsaras, Prah Khan (Figure 40), sheet size: 160 x 120 mm, image size: 90 x 110 mm; 10) Scene of infantry and armed riders, sheet dimensions: 310 x 150 mm; 11) The Leprous King (Figure 29), sheet size: 140 x 203 mm, image size: 95 x 70 mm; 12) A noble from the decoration of the Leprous King's Terrace (Figure 28), sheet size: 225 x 203 mm, image size: 95 x 75 mm; 13) Openwork stella found near Takeo (Figure 34), sheet size: 185 x 200 mm, image size: 110 x 80 mm; 14) Commoners (Figure 14), sheet size: 104 x 203 mm, image size: 53 x 124 mm; 15) A Happy Father (Figure 15), sheet size: 150 x 97 mm; image size: 60 x 35 mm; 16) Figurine (Figure 63), sheet size: 138 x 100 mm, image size: 55 x 50 mm. Trace of surface dirt. Very good condition. 

In 1860, the botanist Henri Mouhot reported that he had discovered extensive ruins in Cambodia.  Before he died of fever in Laos, the world knew of the temples described by expert on Khmer civilisaton Dawn F. Rooney as transcending "the boundaries of anticipated beauty." Pierre Jeannerat de Beerski's original drawings for his work Angkor Ruins in Cambodia capture a sense of Mouhot's moment of discovery: here are imposing statues besieged by foliage, and ornate stonework crumbling beneath fig and kapok trees, long before the tourist invasion.