Thai Art - Sukhothai Period

Sukhothai Period

The Sukhothai period began in the 14th century in the Sukhothai kingdom. Buddha images of the Sukhothai period are elegant, with sinuous bodies and slender, oval faces. This style emphasized the spiritual aspect of the Buddha, by omitting many small anatomical details. The effect was enhanced by the common practice of casting images in metal rather than carving them. This period saw the introduction of the "walking Buddha" pose.

Sukhothai artists tried to follow the canonical defining marks of a Buddha, as they are set out in ancient Pali texts:

• Skin so smooth that dust cannot stick to it
• Legs like a deer
• Thighs like a banyan tree
• Shoulders as massive as an elephant's head
• Arms round like an elephant's trunk, and long enough to touch the knees
• Hands like lotuses about to bloom
• Fingertips turned back like petals
• head like an egg
• Hair like scorpion stingers
• Chin like a mango stone
• Nose like a parrot's beak
• Earlobes lengthened by the earrings of royalty
• Eyelashes like a cow's
• Eyebrows like drawn bows

Sukhothai also produced a large quantity of glazed ceramics in the Sawankhalok style, which were traded throughout south-east Asia.