THAI BUDDHA HEAD 

SANDSTONE

SUKHOTHAI STYLE

CIRCA 14^TH TO 17TH CENTURY.

15.5 HIGH

EXHIBITED: Ithaca College Museum of Art, Ithaca, New York, spring 1971

Catalog exhibition entitled ‘Art of Thailand.’ Item 49: Item 22 Loan number 238.70L

DESCRIPTION: The head contains the elements of the Sukhothai Style “Soaring above the usahnisha or skull protuberance is a Sukhothai innovation-the Thai flame symbolizing the Buddha’s radiant spiritual energy. The hairline forms a delicate V-shape at the top of the brow. This shape is echoed by the curved sweep of the arched eyebrows which join the bridge of a substantial hooked nose shaped like a parrot’s beak according to the scriptures. Three lines incised at the neck are also marks of the Great Being, as are the elongated earlobes denoting the Buddha’s former princely status.”* The head, while done in the Sukhothai style may not have been done during that period, but executed during the Ayutthaya period. Ayutthaya, in the central plain area of Thailand, was the capital of the Thais from 1450 A.D. to 1778 A.D. when it was destroyed by the Burmese. * The National Museum Volunteers Group: Treasures from THE NATIONAL MUSEUM; Thai Watana Panich Press, Bangkok, 1987, p39