Minneapolis Institute of Art

Buddha Head

Cambodia; or Thailand

Date

8th century

Medium

Limestone

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

This Buddha demonstrates a critical innovation of Southeast Asian sculpture: the early translation of established Indian prototypes into distinctly local expressions. The sculptor fully captures the calm bliss of the enlightened being while subtly incorporating the facial features of the indigenous population. Similarly, artists of the Mon-Dvaravati period exaggerated the Buddha’s snail-shell curls, an attribute codified in Indian aesthetic treatises; the tight whorls would have had special significance to a culture where shells were valued forms of ornamentation. Cambodia, Thailand

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