Four fragmentary statues representing Jayavarman VII have been found in various places of his Empire, at Angkor, at Preah Khan of Kompong Svay and at Phimai, in Thailand.

In the early 20th century, the seated statue of Jayavarman VII in Phimai, with a kneeling woman, was considered to be a representation of Brahmadatta, the legendary ruler of Benares, who ruled during the previous lives of the Buddha Shakyamuni according to the Jataka Tales.

As soon as 1935, Georges Coedes suggested that this statue could instead represent the Khmer ruler Jayavarman VII based on the similarities found with his representations in the bas-relief of the Bayon and Banteay Chhmar.

[1] Another similar head was found in 1958 in his stronghold of Jayavarman VII, the Preah Khan of Kompong Svay, in which he is represented slightly younger and less corpulent.

Two representations of Suryavarman II have come down to us, as enthroned sovereign and as army commander, in the so-called “historical” bas-relief in the gallery of the third enclosure of his temple at Angkor Wat.

Though its physical shape is idealized and radiates spiritual intensity, its humanistic style is emblematic of the shift from the myths of Hinduism to the ethos of Buddhism.

Meanwhile, the bust of Jayavarman VII was transferred to the Colonial Museum of Marseille until it shut down in 1962 and the head was deposited at the Musee Guimet in 1965 through the intervention of Philippe Stern.

Thus, in March 2000, a military squad captured suspected smugglers of antiquities who were believed to have looted 97 carvings and statues from this temple, including a Buddha figure, and an unspecified original bust of Jayavarman VII.