Head of Buddha Gray Sandstone Khmer, Pre-Angkor Period

The head of Buddha with slender eyes carved under arched brows and wide sensuously modeled lips set beneath a prominent nose, his hair arranged in large spiral curls above a domed ushnisha.

The stylization of the facial features suggests the influence of the seventh century Thai Dvaravati style, which in turn was influenced by the earlier Gupta conventions of India.

Compare the treatment of the hair and the bee-stung lips with an eighth century bronze Buddha from Thailand, see Chutiwongs and Leidy, 1994, no. 10, p. 30. The sharply defined downcast eyes and square jaw may be compared with a circa seventh century sandstone standing Buddha in the National Museum of Cambodia, see Jessup and Zephir, 1997, cat. 3, p. 149.