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Head of Buddha Sakyamuni Thailand Kingdom of Lan Na 14th century Bronze, cast in the lost wax method height 38 cm. |
This fine head of Sakyamuni is a fragment of a complete temple sculpture. The compassionate teaching of Buddhism is instinct in the face of this life-size and human image of the historical Buddha, who endeavoured to guide mankind along the eightfold path to enlightenment. The head represents an ideal image of Thailand's most revered figure. Sakyamuni is portrayed with fine arched eyebrows, downcast eyes, and a gentle smiling mouth. Large curls cover his head and ushnisha, the symbol of the Buddha’s great wisdom and enlightened state. The elongation of the earlobes was caused by the heavy earrings he wore as a young prince, and reflects his royal origins. Infiltrating from south-eastern China, the Thais established themselves in separate but independent states in the valleys of the four headwaters of the Chao Phraya River, the Ping, Wang, Yom and Nan rivers. Together they formed the Kingdom of Lan Na, which from its founding in the late thirteenth century to its capture in 1556 was one of the most powerful Thai states, rivalled only by Ayudhia. The cultural and political capital was the city of Chieng Mai, founded in 1327. The Lan Na style was influenced by the Indian Pala style (with the intermediary style of Pagan) and by the style of Sukhothai. The arched eyebrows, downcast eyes, clearly contoured lips, well defined chin, and oval face are all characteristic Lan Na traits. Less stylized than later types, the present example has large pronounced curls and distented earlobes, typical features of early Lan Na art. Comparison with dated Buddha images bearing inscriptions allows this portrait to be dated to the fourteenth century [1]. This noble and early Thai head of Buddha wears an intense and serene expression. The bronze casting, with its deep and natural patina, reveals the high artistic skill and lively imagination of the Lan Na masters at an early phase of the period, when the prototype of Thailand’s most significant figure was created. The Buddha’s spiritual transcendence has been masterfully captured in this important bronze portrait. Provenance: K. O. Bernheimer, Munich circa 1930 Paul Bernheimer, Cambridge, Massachusetts Paul Mertz collection, Providence, Rhode Island [1] A. B. Griswold, Dated Buddha Images of Northern Siam, Atribus Asiae Switzerland, 1957. This sculpture was originally collected in the 1920s by a German national in northern Thailand. It was purchased by the Bernheimer Gallery in Munich some time around 1930. The Bernheimer Gallery was one of the first to exhibit Thai Buddhist sculpture in Europe in any serious way. The head of Buddha remained in the Bernheimer private collection until the late 1930s when it was hidden in a mound as the family fled Nazi Germany. Remarkably, the sculpture was preserved and returned to the Bernheimer family after the war. |