Hoarding history

      A Mekong Delta farmer’s collection of antiques is worth a small fortune but he has no intention of selling any of them. Phu Khoi meets an obsessive and possessive collector
There are no tourist sites in Trang Tho I, a small hamlet in Can Tho city, but every three or four days, strangers inevitably drift into town. Locals are never surprised when these new arrivals bee-line straight for the house of Ta Man, a local farmer whose home is basically a small museum filled with precious antiques.
In his humble abode I rub shoulders with gods. There is an imposing stone statue of the god Harihara (a combined deity of Vishnu and Shiva) that stands 1.55 metres tall and weighs 90kg and dates back to the 7th century. There’s a statue of Bodhisattva Kwan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy, with 10 heads and 20 hands, a granite statue of a Shiva Linga from the 10th century, a 10th century Khmer Apsara spirit, as well as a multitude of bows, axes, knives, elephant heads and countless small bronze statues.
Ta Man, who is now in his mid-forties, has been passionate about antiques since he was 15-years old, when he met a trader in Long Xuyen, An Giang province. Ta Man would go to the man’s shop and browse around, gazing with wonder. The shopkeeper knew Ta Man was already hooked, but he took his time before teaching the young teenager how to recognise the value of an object. Ta Man also familiarised himself with Chinese characters, while still at high school. After graduating he got married and began a career in antique trading.
At first, he developed a fondness and a keen eye for Chinese porcelain and ceramics, partly because he had inherited Bat Trang antiques from his grandfather. “I used to wipe those objects clean and the more I looked at them the more I liked them,” he recalls. “I became absorbed in the study and collection of antiques.”
As he accumulated more and more antiques, his home doubled as a storeroom. ”I know many people probably thought, ‘This guy must be cracked in the head! Why is he buying all these old objects to display them at home? Why does he go everywhere to buy antiques at any cost?’” says Ta Man.
One day Ta Man heard that an old man in Vong The village, An Giang province had found a sandstone statue of the Hindu god Vishnu while he was digging a pond. Ta Man knew that this area was close to Oc Eo, a large site in the Mekong delta that was once the centre of Phu Nam (Funan) civilisation, a precursor to the flowering of the Angkor civilisation.
Oc Eo town was once a bustling seaport in a Phu Nam kingdom that dominated the region from the first to the seventh century. It was a culture that took shape and developed west of the Hau River. Phu Nam inhabitants in their early days were already skilled in marine operations and experienced in irrigational works that controlled floods as well as developed sea trade.
Documents in mainland China written by agents of the Wu emperor about 250AD appear to have described Oc Eo as a sophisticated country ruled by a king in a walled palace, complete with a taxation system. Recent investigation into the canals at Oc Eo suggest that they once connected the city with the capital of Angkor Borei, the agrarian capital of the Phu Nam culture, and may well have facilitated a remarkable trade network that would have seen goods from Rome, India and China pass through linking the oriental and Occidental worlds.
Ta Man travelled to hamlet intent on buying the statue but the old man knew that the object was of great value and demanded a high price. In the end Ta Man sold his own garden to pay for the statue, which he believed to date back to the seventh century, and weighed 90kg. But aware of Oc Eo’s extraordinary culture, Ta Man has always sought out Oc Eo artifacts, no matter what the price.
Doing a sum in his head, Ta Man believes he has collected about 100 Oc Eo antiques made from bronze, wood, stone and terracotta. Some foreign collectors have offered $30,000 to $50,000 for some items, but he has refused to sell any of them. If he sold just one of these precious statues he would be able to buy a bigger house for himself but Ta Man sees himself as a protector as well as a collector.
Once he fixed up a statue of Vishnu for a collector in Ba The district, An Giang province. He asked if he could buy it but the owner turned his bid down. A year later he was distraught when he spotted the same statue on the front cover of an antique magazine with its arm broken.
Over the years he has sold bits of his farm land just to buy antiques. Now all he wants to do is protect his collection, though he is always happy to show it off. “I am saving up to set up a coffee shop in Can Tho city where my antiques will be displayed. I will be a volunteer guide for all my customers,” he says like a proud father.