Thai - Head of the Buddha - Walters 25188

As an isolated object, this imperfectly preserved stucco head must be viewed against the background of 16th-century bronze images of the crowned Buddha. Since the stucco head bears no ornamtental details, comparision must be focused on the facial figures. There are broad, swooping sockets, narrowly opened eyes (now more angled and more sharply curved at the outer edges), and an undulant mouth (the more deeply curved lower lip now adding severity to the expression).
The changes move in the direction of tense, electrically charged curves and a more awesome grandeur. At the same thime, the differences in surrounding elements, not apparent in the stucco head itself, are of equal or greater importance.