THAILAND, U-THONG, 14TH CENTURY

The corpus of Buddhist images known as U-Thong style date from the 13th through 15th centuries, and were found in the area of the city-state Ayutthaya. The name is derived from the first ruler of Ayutthaya, Ramathibodhi I, who before founding the city in 1351, was known as Prince U-Thong. Buddha figures in U-Thong style fall into two groups with distinct facial characteristics. One group follows a more curvilinear form consistent with the earlier local style; the other group displays angular features more in line with the Khmer style, a holdover from the Khmer Empire's domination of the area a century earlier. In the present example, the strong nose, brow, and chin, with significant consideration paid to the horizontal lines, indicate that this head belongs to the latter group more closely associated with Khmer style.