South East Asian art

The art of Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma (now Myanmar), Laos, Thailand, and Indonesia. The Indonesian islands are an ethnically diverse group of islands sharing a complicated history of cultural influence, first Chinese, then Indian, and, more recently, Islamic (see Indian art, Chinese art, and Islamic art). Hindu and Buddhist art have found distinctive expression in temple architecture.

Dong-son art, about 2nd century BC, is the product of a prehistoric culture in Vietnam, typified by bronze ceremonial objects, including the largest drum in the world, the ‘Moon of Bali’ (Pura Pantaran Sasih, Pejeng).

Cambodian art of the Funan (2nd–6th centuries AD) and Chen La (6th–8th centuries AD) was predominantly Hindu. Surviving temples are at Sambor Prei Kuk and masterpieces of sculpture include sandstone figures of Lakshmi and the Buddha (Musée Guimet, Paris) and the Buddha of Vat Romlok (National Museum, Phnom-Penh). Khmer art reached its zenith in the vast temple of Angkor Vat, Cambodia, about 1112–53, the exterior walls of which have 1,750 life-size figure sculptures.

Indonesian art reflects its mixed history, featuring Dong-son metalwork, Hindu and Buddhist temples (notably the temple at Borobodur, Java, 8th–9th centuries, the finest surviving monument to Buddhism), tribal art of ancestor cults, Javanese puppets, batik, and flamboyant house decoration.

Thai art is predominantly Buddhist but flavoured by ancient animist beliefs which persist. From the 7th to 9th centuries, the dominant Mon peoples produced serenely beautiful stone and bronze Buddhas.

Burmese art is exemplified in the richly decorated conical stupas belonging to the time of the Pagán kings, 9th–13th centuries.