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"The first people to leave their artistic imprint on Thailand were the Mons, whose kingdom flourished between the 6th and 8th centuries."
The Mon people hailed from the area that is now Myanmar (formerly Burma), and they were Buddhist. The most important surviving examples of their art depict Buddha rendered in bronze or stone. Mon sculpture has some characteristics of northern Indian sculpture, combined with the strong, square features of the Mon people. Examples of Mon sculpture can be seen in the museums of Bangkok and Ayuthaya. Perhaps the finest surviving example of Mon architecture is a monument called Wat Kukut, a tiered pagoda graced with 15 diminishing Buddha's, located in Lamphun.
Much Thai art is Buddhist-influenced, but in the 11th century, the Khmer people of what is now Cambodia absorbed part of the Mon kingdom and brought Hindu themes to sculpture and architecture. These early Khmer rulers, also influenced by India, contributed to Thai architecture the prang, a rounded tower supported by a tiered base and decorated with figures from Hindu mythology. Examples of Khmer architecture and sculpture, depicting Hindu gods and Buddha seated beneath a seven-hooded cobra, can be seen at Lopburi, north of Bangkok.
Thai sculpture flowered in the 13th century, when a group of people probably originating in southern China overthrew the Khmer. This group—the Thai— established the kingdom of Sukhothai in central Thailand; it is with the founding of Sukhothai that Thai history is often said to begin. Sukhothai architecture shows a mixture of Chinese, Burmese, Hindu, and Khmer influences, and is best seen in temples and in representations of Buddha. The Buddhas produced during this period have a strong influence on many of the Buddha images created to this day. The golden age of the Sukhothai was eclipsed by the empire established at Ayuthaya in the 14th century.
The wats found in Bangkok are especially refined and sophisticated because none of them is more than two centuries old. When Rama I founded the city in 1782, he began an impressive palace- and temple-building program, recreating the glory that was Ayuthaya in this new "city of angels". He brought the legendary Emerald Buddha (first discovered near Chiang Mai in the 15th century) back from Laos during another victorious military campaign. The small image (in reality, made of jasper) was housed in an elegant new temple, Wat Pre Keo, and given the supreme place of honor it still enjoys in the palace compound—indeed, throughout the kingdom.
No less impressive than the outside view of the many temples in the city's capital is the inside view of a temple's bot (main chapel) that holds the Buddha image, for many are filled with an awesome display of precious stones and metals.
Continued:
Click >Art and Culture of Thailand Part 2
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