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Sculpture
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The
rich and fertile central plains region of Thailand has attracted
peoples and empires down the ages. Artistically, the area displays
a complex intermixing of styles from different periods, races and
kingdoms.
Mon
Dvaravati Sculpture
 Little
is known about the independent state of Dvaravati, which flourished
from the 7th to 11th centuries in much of
present-day Thailand. The kingdom’s main cities were located in
the central region at Nakhon Pathom, Lopburi and U Thong, but Dvaravati
influence spreads as far north as Haripunchai (present-day Lamphun)
and Songkhla in the south.
Most
of the people of Dvaravati were Mon, highly skilled in stone sculpture,
stucco and terra cotta decoration, and bronze work. Their sculpture
style was strongly influenced by the Gupta and post-Gupta styles
of 4th to 8th century India, but local features
are evident. The face is broad with thick lips, a flat nose and
protruding partly closed eyes. Large curved eyebrows connect at
the bridge of the nose. The hair is in large spiral whorls with
a cylindrical lotus-bud ‘ushnisha’. Standing Dvaravati images are
symmetrical, with both hands performing the same ‘madra’ and a thin,
transparent robe that is identical on both sides. Seated images
are usually in the cross-legged style of India or the European style
with the legs hanging down.
Several
examples of the ‘Wheel of Law’, often with a reclining deer, have
been found in Nakhon Pathom and western Thailand dating from the
Dvaravati period. The wheels symbolize the never-ending circle of
Buddhist thought, recounted in the Buddha’s first sermon in a deer
park in Sarnath, India. In Southeast Asia, the wheels are unique
to the Dvaravati period.
Khmer
and Lopburi Sculpture
 The
Lopburi style is actually the name given to Khmer art in Thailand.
The Khmer people settled in what is now northeastern Thailand and
Cambodia in about the 6th century AD. The Khmers developed
a powerful empire that controlled much of present-day Thailand during
the 7th to mid 13th centuries. The town of
Lopburi in central Thailand was a major seat of administration for
the Khmers.
Khmer
sculpture was produced mainly in stone and bronze and often featured
Hindu gods, Bodhisattvas or Tantric (Vajrayana) Buddhist deities.
Buddha images were often featured seated on the coils of the seven-headed
Muchalinda, the great ‘naga’. Crowned Buddha images were popular
while the face tended to be square with almost straight eyebrows.
Perhaps
the most distinctive examples of Khmer sculpture are the stone lintels
that ornamented the entrances to temples. The lintels often depicted
Hindu stories such as the re-creation of the universe by the Hindu
Gods Vishnu and the four-faced Brahma. Mythical creatures such as
nagas (serpents), garudas (half-man, half-bird) and lions or singhs,
guardians of the gates of temples, featured prominently in Khmer
art.
U
Thong Sculpture
The
U Thong Kingdom was situated in Thailand’s lower central plains
area from the 13th to the 15th century. Scholars
often incorporate U Thong art into the early Ayutthayan style, though
many images predate Ayutthaya.
U
Thong images are characterized by a small band between the forehead
and the hairline, an open robe with a long flap over the left shoulder
ending in a straight line above the naval. The most commonly produced
images were of bronze in the seated ‘subduing the Mara’ position,
which represents the Buddha’s enlightenment.
The
faces of U Thong images are square with a large mouth, double line
on the upper lip, a broad nose and very tight spiky hair whorls.
In early images, a lotus bud surmounts the ushnisha. This was replaced
by the Sukhothai-style elongated flame in late U Thong images.
Ayutthaya
Sculpture
 Buddha
images from the Ayutthaya period were produced in a great number
of styles and positions. Bronze remained the material of choice,
although sandstone, stucco and wood were also popular although few
of these survived the sack of Ayutthaya in 1767.
The
sculptures of Ayutthaya drew their inspiration from the earlier
styles of Sukhothai and U Thong. The most common mudra is the seated
‘victory over the Mara’ position. Standing images with varying hand
positions were produced in great numbers. Huge reclining images
denoting the Buddha’s passing into nirvana (extinction of desire)
were also featured.
Throughout
the four centuries of the Ayutthaya Empire, the sculptural style
of Buddhist images gradually changed, with early works exhibiting
the characteristics of Sukhothai, then U Thong and Khmer art, and
finally becoming splendid and majestic in reflection of the glory
of the powerful empire of Ayutthaya itself.
Ratanakosin
Sculpture
 The
Ratanakosin artistic style is essentially art of the modern Bangkok
era, from 1782 to the present, which incorporates classical Thai
and western artistic elements. This does not mean that the Buddha
images seen in Bangkok’s temples are all Ratanakosin in origin:
many of them were brought to the city from provincial sites to escape
destruction during war.
Images
produced in the early Ratanakosin period closely follow the style
of Ayutthaya. Later works become much more ornate and regal in appearance,
generally losing the sense of Buddhist spirituality. The emergence
of scientific thought in Siam during the latter half of the 19th
century led to more realistic humanized sculpture, lacking in many
of the original elements designed to set the Buddha apart from common
people. The realistic style of the late Ratanakosin sculptures are
reminiscent of the highly naturalistic style of the Gandhara images
from the 1st to 3rd century India.
For more
information on sculpture in other regions see:
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