The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

CHAPTER 22
ART AND ARCHITECTURE IN SIAM
Although in the early periods of its development
the art of Siam can scarcely be differentiated
from the tradition in Cambodia, it is worthy of
a separate consideration, not only for certain
unquestioned masterpieces of Oriental sculpture,
but for the lesson contained in the decline
of a traditional art, with which Siamese work
of the later centuries furnishes us.
In so far as it is possible to be definite about
the hazy beginnings of the Siamese kingdom
and its art, it can be said that probably in the
early centuries of the Christian era Indianized
groups of the Mon people from lower Burma
gradually settled themselves in the Mekong
Valley, where they merged with the Lao-Thai,
originally from Tibet and South China. About
a.d. 550 the Mon invaders were able to assert
their superiority and to found the Empire of
Dvaravati with themselves as the ruling class.
This first Siamese dynasty maintained its sovereignty
until c. 1000, when the territories
around the Gulf of Siam were reconquered by
the Khmers. Although scientific excavation has
been limited to only a few sites, a considerable
amount of material, sculpture in both stone and
metal and fragments of architecture, has been
brought to light and enables us to form some
idea of the character of this earliest Siamese
culture.
Like the contemporary Buddhist sculpture
of Cambodia, the Siamese images of the sixth
century reveal an unquestionable dependence
on the prototypes of the Gupta Period in India,
but even these statues from ancient Ayudhya
and Romlok show the emergence of certain
definitely recognizable Siamese characteristics
[355] 1 This is to be discerned particularly in
the type of heads and features. The heads are
355. Buddha from Ayudhya.
Bangkok, National Museum
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