South East Asia

The Art of South East Asia

The art of Southeast Asia, influenced by the cultures and religions of India and China, combined Buddhist, Hindu, and indigenous tribal arts to form their own syncretic versions of popular deities from the religions of Asia. Buddhist missionary monks traveled from India to Sri Lanka, Java, Cambodia, Thailand, and other areas of Southeast Asia. The monks spread Buddhism along with Indian culture, arts, and architecture. Southeast Asian art is often described as having clean, classical lines. The human figure is still, motionless, and formal, and is dressed simply but with elaborate head gear, hairdos, and jewelry -- as one might expect in Hindu art, but there it is in Buddhist art! The image below from a Buddha figure from Thailand.

"Hari-Hara" below is a syncretic Hindu deity that combines the powers of Shiva and Vishnu. He is identified by the four arms (originally), the 'high hairdo,' and the vertical third eye. The frieze on the "Presentation Bowl" in the center below presents a continuous narrative of a walled city and a palace courtyard with dancers and musicians. "Ganesha," the image to the right, depicts the elephant-headed boy, the son of Shiva and Parvati, slain by his father in a fit of jealousy and restored to life by Vishnu with the head of the first creature that walked by -- an elephant. Ganesha is the god of compassion and mercy, and is one of the most popular of the Hindu deities.


Hari-Hara, c. 7th-8th century ce, Cambodian, Pre-Angkor period. Metropolitan Museum of Art	"Presentation Bowl," c. 7th-8th century ce, Malaysian. Bronze. Height: 8 1/4" Metropolitan Museum of Art	Standing Ganesha, c. 7th-8th century ce, Cambodian, Pre-Angkor period. Metropolitan Museum of Art,


Four-armed Avalokiteshvara, c. 8th century ce, Thai. Bronze figure with silver and obsidian inlaid eyes. Metropolitan Museum of Art	Guardian Lion, Thai, 11th-12th century, Khmer style. This guardian of sacred and royal grounds is intended to ward off evil.	Standing four-armed Avalokiteshvara, c. 9th century ce, Indonesian or Thai. Height: 22 1/4" Metropolitan Museum of Art

Standing Brahma, 8-9th Century ce, Cambodia

Standing Brahma, c. 9th-10th century ce, Cambodia, Khmer period. Stone. Height: 47 1/2"
This four-armed and four-faced figure, in the 'Khmer court style' was found at Angkor in 1935.

Kneeling female deity,
c. 11th century ce,
is Cambodian, from the Khmer period. It is in the style of the "Baphuon temple,"
(c. 1010-1080) considered to be the classic phase of Khmer sculpture. The figure is bronze with traces of gold and is inlaid with silver.

Height: 17"

Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York


Above, view of Angkor Wat, Angkor, Cambodia. 12th century.	View of Tower of Bayon at Angkor Thom, Cambodia, c. 1200.

Page Updated 8/22/06

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