Thai art refers to a diverse range of art forms created in Thailand from prehistoric times to the present day, including architecture, sculpture, painting, textiles, decorative arts, crafts, ceramics, and more. Buddhism has shaped much of Thai art, and many sculptures and paintings depict Buddha images and religious themes. But nature, including flora and fauna, as well as mythical creatures, has been a major inspiration for Thai art, with colorful motifs appearing in different types of art forms. In contemporary Thai art, traditional works remain significant and continue to influence artists' concepts.
History Prehistory
One of the earliest examples of artistic expression in Thailand can be found in over 410 documented rock art sites across the country, featuring both prehistoric and historic art. The majority of these sites showcase monochrome red pictograms that depict animals, humans, geometric shapes, and handprints. While the dating of many sites remains unknown, some rock art sites have been estimated to date back 3,000–5,000 years ago.
Nong Ratchawat, situated in Suphanburi province, is an important prehistoric site that provides valuable insights into the lifestyles of the people who settled in the area around 2000–500 BCE. Excavations have unearthed evidence of rice cultivation, animal husbandry, hunting, fishing, building construction, the creation of polished stone axes and pottery using locally available materials. The inhabitants were skilled in weaving textiles from plants possessing strong fibers, such as flax, hemp, and ramie. During the Iron Age, Nong Ratchawat became a trading hub in the Mae Klong and Tha Chin river basins. It drew merchants from distant regions, and the population became culturally and ethnically mixed. The river watersheds surrounding the site have yielded a plethora of artifacts, including pottery, bronze and iron tools, glass beads, ivory dice, Roman coins, and Lingling-o earrings. Ban Chiang is another important archaeological site in Thailand, located in Udon Thani province. It showcases the artistic achievements of a prehistoric culture that existed from about 2000 BCE to 300 CE. The people of Ban Chiang were skilled metalworkers, and evidence of early metallurgy, including copper and bronze artifacts, has been found at the site. The site also features diverse ceramics, some of which are decorated with distinctive red-on-buff swirl designs painted by hand.
Dvaravati art
The Dvaravati period, lasting from the 6th to the 12th centuries CE, witnessed the spread of Theravada Buddhism throughout central, northern, northeastern, and southern Thailand. While Theravada Buddhism was the dominant religion during this time, there is also evidence of other religious influences, including Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism. Dvaravati art, which employed hard blue limestone or quartzite to produce detailed sculptures, stucco, and terracotta decorations, featured symmetrical Buddha images standing or seated on thrones and the Wheel of the Law. The art style of Dvaravati owed its influence to the art of the Gupta and Post-Gupta periods in northern India, as well as the Buddhist art of Amaravati in southern India. Robert L. Brown has argued that the comparison with Amaravati is unsound for metal images. On his account no Amaravati-style metal Buddha images exist in India. The category was built by scholars from Southeast Asian examples, taking stone sculpture from Amaravati as the model without allowing that stone and metal had not developed together. The period labels themselves have been questioned. Piriya Krairiksh proposed in 1977 that "Dvāravatī art", "Śrīvijayan art" and "Lopburi art" be dropped, on the ground that a state whose centre cannot be identified should not frame a stylistic period. Pierre Baptiste describes the difficulty of separating work made in a given style from work that prolongs that style much later. He calls it a persistent problem in the study of Thai art, and lists workshop practice, regional style, archaism, restoration and homage among its causes. Craig J. Reynolds puts the same point as a property of the objects, holding that Buddha images are never original but copies of an earlier image, differing from it through the material, the sculptor's skill and the patron's preferences, so that the original recedes into the past. Justin Thomas McDaniel makes a related observation about the fabric of temples, whose decorative elements are repaired, repainted, replaced or discarded at each renovation and are therefore undated. McDaniel adds that decorative elements are commonly passed over, scholars of Buddhist art going directly to the buddha images or the narrative murals.
Kessara Srinaka sets out the methods Piriya set his own against. They are the rise-and-decline scheme of George Cœdès and Alexander Griswold, the aestheticism of Silpa Bhirasri, the evolution-of-motifs method that M. C. Subhadradis Diskul took from Philippe Stern and applied beyond Khmer art, and Damrong Rajanubhab's use of chronicles and legends. Piriya's own method rests on iconology, stylistic comparison and the evolution of style, with iconology throughout, and treats works of art as primary evidence alongside foreign contemporary accounts. He holds that information in art history is unstable, since discoveries continue and interpretation depends on method, so that no conclusion can be treated as final. His principles have been disputed. Rungroj Thamrungraeng holds the earlier methods sufficient, and objects in particular to classifying religious art by sectarian affiliation; Kornnarong Rianrawi criticises the iconographic method and the same framework as applied to Khmer works in Thailand.
Several attributions still in circulation have been traced to early publications by members of the royal family. The Sukhothai attribution of a group of Hindu bronzes rests on a book of 1908 by the future Rama VI, written while he was crown prince, and was followed thereafter. The eighteenth-century framework for benjarong derives from a treatise of 1917 by Damrong Rajanubhab that was based largely on oral tradition. Damrong's Tamnan phra phuttha chedi of 1926 set attributions for Buddhist stupas on the same basis.
Charlotte Galloway reports that a review of queried works in the National Gallery of Australia storerooms about 2002, by Piriya and Hiram Woodward, concluded that works falling outside defined classifications could not readily be dismissed as forgeries, and that judgement should rest on aesthetics, overall schematics and an object's place in a corpus. She also writes that the growth of collector and scholarly interest in Southeast Asian art was facilitated by looting and illegal export. This happened while Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia were in civil war or unrest and none was able to control it, so that some works were arguably safeguarded by removal. Most purchases were made outside the country of origin by means then considered legitimate. Chris Baker and Pasuk Phongpaichit credit their own use of foreign visitors' accounts for dating to Piriya's revision of the chronology of Sukhothai and Ayutthaya art. People of Dvaravati were likely the Mons, as evidenced by various inscriptions during this period. Buddhism spread widely across the region in the Dvaravati period. Dvaravati towns are known across the central plain and beyond. They include Nakhon Pathom ancient city in Nakhon Pathom province, U-Thong in Suphanburi province, Chan Sen in Nakhon Sawan province, Si Thep in Phetchabun province, Hariphunchai in Lamphun province, Mueang Fa Daet Song Yang in Kalasin province, Champasi in Maha Sarakham province, Sema in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Baan Dong Lakorn in Nakhon Nayok province, Ku Bua in Ratchaburi province, and Yarang in Pattani province.
Srivijaya art During the 8th-13th centuries CE, Southern Thailand may have been influenced by the Srivijaya Kingdom, which encompassed Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. This resulted in similarities between Srivijaya art in Southern Thailand and Central Java art in Indonesia, specifically in bronze sculptures and votive tablets. The ancient sites in Chaiya, Southern Thailand, also bear resemblances to Central Java art, with Wat Phra Borommathat Chaiya being the most similar. The majority of sculptures discovered in Southern Thailand are of religious significance, depicting figures such as the Avalokitesvara, Buddha protected by a Nāga, and clay votive tablets with Buddhist iconography. Srivijaya art in Southern Thailand, from Surat Thani to Songkhla, displays the influence of Indian art styles such as Gupta, post-Gupta, and Pala–sena, indicating a strong connection to Mahayana Buddhism.
Lavo art in Thailand – Lopburi art Source:
Between the 11th and 13th centuries CE, central and northeastern Thailand was ruled by the Khmers of Cambodia and as a result, Brahmin–Hinduism emerged. It led to the development of artistic styles, sculptures, and architecture similar to the Khmer also known as Khom in Thai language. This artistic expression is known as the Lopburi style, named after the ancient city of Lopburi or Lavo and refers to both the Khmer-influenced and genuinely Khmer artistic movement in Thailand.
Lopburi artists were primarily associated with Brahmin-Hinduism, and later, Mahayana Buddhism. Surviving examples of their art are mainly stone and bronze carvings. The Lopburi architectural style used bricks and stones, with the Prang style being the most common, influenced by the Khmer Angkor style. In the 13th century AD, the Sukhothai Kingdom was established, and the Lopburi Kingdom came under its influence. During this time, artistic works aimed to establish a Thai identity.
U-Thong art
U-Thong art, also known as Suphannaphum-Ayothaya art, emerged in central Thailand between the 12th and 15th centuries CE, contemporaneously with Chiang Saen and Sukhothai art. This style received its name from the U-Thong Kingdom, which was centered in the U Thong District, although this kingdom's existence is ambiguous. It is characterized by a Buddha image style influenced by Dvaravati, Lopburi, and Sukhothai arts, with the Dvaravati influence being the most prominent. The resulting architecture and fine arts are known collectively as U-Thong. They are found in Suphanburi, Nakhon Pathom, Chai Nat, Lopburi, and Ayutthaya.
U-Thong architecture is closely related to Theravada Buddhism and features low-roofed ubosot, vihāra, and chedis constructed with wood. A unique style of U-Thong chedi has an octagonal base, eight-sided structure, lotus crystal-adorned roof, and bell. These chedis are commonly found at various temples, such as Sankhaburi in Chai Nat province or some temples in Suphanburi. Another type of U-Thong chedi is found at Wat Phra Borommathat in Chai Nat province and shows similarities to Srivijaya art.
Bronze sculptures from the U-Thong period exemplify elaborate casting, inheriting from the earlier Dvaravati art. Sukhothai art mixed with U-Thong art, resulting in lighter Buddha statues with flame auras, eventually becoming characteristic of early Ayutthaya art. The U-Thong or Ayothaya Kingdom was dissolved with the establishment of the Ayutthaya Kingdom.
Sukhothai art Sukhothai art emerged in the 13th to 15th centuries CE, coincided with the establishment of the Sukhothai Kingdom. This art form was influenced by Theravada Buddhism, which was propagated from Lanka through Nakhon Si Thammarat. One of the most notable characteristics of Sukhothai art is the authentic Sukhothai-style chedi, also referred to as Phum khao bin, which has a distinct lotus-shaped design.