KHMER, BAPHUON STYLE, CIRCA 11TH CENTURY

This large and impressive figure of Shiva comes from the personal collection of Connie Mangskau, an early and influential collector and dealer in the field of Southeast Asian art. She was born in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in 1907 to an English father and Thai mother. With the outbreak of World War I, her father returned to England and was subsequently unable to return to Thailand due to injury; her mother raised Connie and her sisters and supported the family by selling silk brocade at the royal palace in Bangkok. In 1926, Connie was wed to Fridtjof Mangskau, a Norwegian based in Singapore; their marriage lasted until his death in 1934, at which point Connie moved back to Bangkok. With the Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia during World War II, Connie and her sister became spies and message couriers for the Free Thai Movement; after a trip to Cambodia to monitor Japanese troop movements, she was captured and imprisoned for nearly a month. After the war, she worked as a secretary and interpreter for the Office of Strategic Services, forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency, where she became close friends with Jim Thompson, an important entrepreneur in the Thai silk industry. During this time, she also began to sell antiques to foreign art collectors and museums. Her mixed ethnicity, which had formerly proved a disadvantage, now allowed her to bridge Thai and Western contacts. She quickly became the most important source for Southeast Asian antiquities in Bangkok in the 1960s and 1970s. She was also one of the leading socialites in Bangkok, with her house, a modern interpretation of traditional Thai architecture, a favorite spot for parties and movie shoots.