Head of Buddha Copper alloy Thailand

The head of the Buddha with hair arranged in tight ‘snail-shell’ curls over his domed ushnisha, his oval face with curved leaf-shaped eyes beneath high arched brows and slightly smiling lips bearing a benevolent expression.

The facial features follow the iconographic conventions prescribed in early Indian art manuals which describe the ideal image as having, "...a head shaped 'like an egg,' eyebrows 'like drawn bows,' nose 'like a parrot’s beak,' chin 'like a mango stone...,' " see Bowie, Diskul and Griswold, 1972, p. 14.

While these features are widely seen especially in 14th/15th Century Sukothai images, features such as the pointed chin and the thin lips are more conventionalized, suggesting a slightly later date for this sculpture.