Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia

Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia

Guy, John, with essays by Pierre Baptiste, Lawrence Becker, Bérénice Bellina, Robert L. Brown, Federico Carò, Pattaratorn Chirapravati, Janet G. Douglas, Arlo Griffiths, Agustijanto Indradjaya, Le Thi Lien, Pierre-Yves Manguin, Stephen A. Murphy, Ariel O'Connor, Peter Skilling, Janice Stargardt, Donna Strahan, U Thein Lwin, Geoff Wade, U Win Kyaing, Hiram Woodward, and Thierry Zéphir
2014
338 pages
AAMC Award for Excellence, Honorable Mention Catalogue/Publication category (2014)
View More Publication Info

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has a long tradition of presenting exhibitions that advance our understanding of the art of the ancient world. "Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia, Fifth to Eight Century" will open up new vistas for our visitors, introducing the little-known sculptural traditions of Southeast Asia. This region was described by early geographers as the place "beyond India, before China"—a region seemingly without an identity of its own. As this exhibition ably demonstrates, in the course of the first millennium, mainland and insular Southeast Asia boasted a string of emerging states, whose identities have largely been lost to modern history. The principal kingdoms that produced the sculptures presented here—Pyu, Funan, Zhenla, Champa, Dvāravatī, Śrīvijaya—are unfamiliar, if not unknown, to many. Yet these early states represent the beginning of state formation in Southeast Asia, and their archaeological footprints broadly define the political map of the region today. The surviving corpus of early religious art from these kingdoms, much of it spectacular in scale and often sublimely beautiful, is our principal window onto these cultures.

Footed Dish with Equestrian Hunting Scene, Copper alloy, Central Vietnam
Central Vietnam
ca. 8th century
Footed Bowl with Scenes from the Gauttila Jataka, Copper alloy, Southern India, probably Andhra Pradesh
Southern India, probably Andhra Pradesh
ca. 5th–6th century
Yaksha, possibly Kubera, Sandstone, Vietnam
Vietnam
late 6th–early 7th century
Lintel with Anthropomorphic Dragon in Foliage, Sandstone, Central Cambodia
Central Cambodia
mid-7th century
Hilt of a Weapon, Gold, Indonesia (Java)
Indonesia (Java)
last quarter of the 10th–last quarter of the 15th century
Head of Buddha, Sandstone, Southern Cambodia
Southern Cambodia
7th century
Buddha, Sandstone, Southern Cambodia
Southern Cambodia
mid-7th century
Shiva, Sandstone, Southern Cambodia or Vietnam
Southern Cambodia or Vietnam
mid- 7th century
Harihara, Sandstone, Cambodia or Vietnam
Cambodia or Vietnam
late 7th–early 8th century
Buddha Preaching, Silver alloy, Central or northeastern Thailand
Central or northeastern Thailand
8th–early 9th century
Bodhisattva  Avaolkiteshvara, Copper alloy, Western Cambodia
Western Cambodia
second half of the 7th–early 8th century
Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, Copper alloy inlaid with silver and glass or obsidian, Northeastern Thailand
Northeastern Thailand
second quarter of the 8th century
Buddha Preaching, Copper alloy inlaid with silver and glass or obsidian, Northeastern Thailand
Northeastern Thailand
8th century
Bodhisattva, possibly Maitreya, Copper alloy with tin, Northeastern Thailand
Northeastern Thailand
first quarter of the 8th century
Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, Copper alloy, Southern Thailand or Sumatra
Southern Thailand or Sumatra
8th–early 9th century
Buddha Attended by Bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Maitreya, Copper alloy, Sumatra or southern Thailand
Sumatra or southern Thailand
second half of the 8th century
Standing Bodhisattva Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future, Bronze with high tin content, or silver alloy, Thailand (Buriram Province, Prakhon Chai)
Thailand (Buriram Province, Prakhon Chai)
8th century
Standing Buddha, Bronze with traces of gilt, Thailand (Nakhon Pathom Province)
Thailand (Nakhon Pathom Province)
8th–9th century

View Citations

Guy, John, Pierre Baptiste, Lawrence Becker, Bérénice Bellina, Robert L. Brown, Federico Carò, Pattaratorn Chirapravati, et al. 2014. Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.