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Lot Essay
In 1964 over three hundred bronzes were found, including the present one, at Pra Kon Chai in the Buriram province of Eastern Thailand. Most bronzes represent bodhisattvas, while only a few have Buddha Sakyamuni as subject. The bodhisattva images were made in the style of Pre-Angkorian Cambodia as the area where they were found lay on the cross-road from India, through Burma, Thailand towards Cambodia and beyond.
The entire group forms more or less an unified entity, although some bronzes display a high silver content, like the one under review. The group also displays an internal stylistic development. Most bodhisattvas, whether representing Avalokitesvara or Maitreya, are casted in a pure ascetic form. This is accentuated by their slender, elongated body and simple dhoti. No jewellery is found on their body, contrasting strongly with the usual concept of a bodhisattva. The early group statues of the hoard may date from the end of the seventh to early eighth century, but the majority belongs to the eighth and ninth century. The later examples like the well-known ones of the Asia Society, Metropolitan Museum of Art, both in New York, the Kimbell Art Museum one in Fort Worth and the one under discussion, tend to become already more stiff. Also their hairlines and details of garments are more schematic and formalized rendered.
As the large find shows a great variety in quality and a production period of over two hundred years, local workshops must have been responsible for these bronzes.
The entire group forms more or less an unified entity, although some bronzes display a high silver content, like the one under review. The group also displays an internal stylistic development. Most bodhisattvas, whether representing Avalokitesvara or Maitreya, are casted in a pure ascetic form. This is accentuated by their slender, elongated body and simple dhoti. No jewellery is found on their body, contrasting strongly with the usual concept of a bodhisattva. The early group statues of the hoard may date from the end of the seventh to early eighth century, but the majority belongs to the eighth and ninth century. The later examples like the well-known ones of the Asia Society, Metropolitan Museum of Art, both in New York, the Kimbell Art Museum one in Fort Worth and the one under discussion, tend to become already more stiff. Also their hairlines and details of garments are more schematic and formalized rendered.
As the large find shows a great variety in quality and a production period of over two hundred years, local workshops must have been responsible for these bronzes.