Country Group: South and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam)

Item id: 104

Very unusual Large stone Buddha head from Thailand.It appears to be in a provincial early Ayuthaya style I normally don't buy large stone heads both because I do not ever want to encourage the desecration of Buddhist sites, and because there are so many fakes. This one came to me as part of a large collection I bought a number of years ago: it is definately authentic, and it appears to have been separated from it's body long ago. It is quite large at 10 inches high by over 20 inches in circumference. It weighs over 17 and 1/2 pounds. I put a 5 inch Buddha in one of the photos for a perspective of it's size It is close to life size. The face is distinctive, and may have been re cut at one time, which happens to a number of old stone pieces. There is some very early repair to the back of the head, and loss to the ears. Otherwise it is complete. The gilding on the face is probably recent application of gold leaf squares as an act of devotion (common in Thailand). There are traces of lacquer which probably covered the entire piece at one time. It has a very unusual custom base made from an old piece of teak left in it's natural state. This is a very uncommon piece with a very distinctive look. Complete authentic southeast Asian stone heads of this size typically bring very strong prices.