Buddhist Sculpture of Northern Thailand
Carol Stratton

ISBN 974-7551-63-2
2004, 423pp, 210x295mm, 2,000g B2,000
Right sold: North America and U.K

The art of the Northern kingdoms of Thailand was Buddhist, and the Buddha image was at its core. These images were created not only as contemporary reminders of Gautama Buddha, but were in themselves objects of respect and intense veneration. The purpose of traditional Buddhist art was not to delight the eye or "decorate," but to remind, enlighten, and instruct.This volume shows that Lan Na sculpture is an enormous body of work beginning with the Mon-Hariphunchai period of the eleventh century, through the Classic period of Lan Na's Golden Age in the fifteenth century, up until Lan Na's integration into the rest of Thailand. It is a tradition of surprising diversity positioned alongside the other great Southeast Asian art traditions--the Dvaravati and Sukhothai in Thailand, the Pagan in Burma, and the Khmer in Cambodia.