The Measured Art: A Proportional Analysis of Early Khmer Sculpture

Focusing on 40 stunning artworks from the National Museum of Cambodia Early Khmer collection and from Musée Guimet in Paris, the author, who studied Khmer statuary in situ in the 1950s and later on was inspired by ​“a chance encounter in 1997 with two Southeast Asian art historians at the National Gallery of Washington”, USA, compares width and height measurements (constructional system) used in Khmer art with the canon of Indian sculptural art.

Challenging the chronological framework established by George Coedès in 1944, and the conventional classification of early Khmer art in five geographically-defined categories — Phnom Da, Sambor, Prei Kmeng, Prasat Andet and Kompong Preah –, the author offers ​“a new chronology relying on stylistic analysis […] for periods spanning approximately 200 years:

1. Early to mid-seventh century.
2. Mid- to late seventh century.
3. Early to mid-eighth century.
4. Mid- to third quarter of the eighth century.
5. Third-quarter to late eighth century.
6. Late eighth to early ninth century.

Quoting Ulrich von Schroeder’s work [Buddhist Sculptures of Sri Lanka, Visual Dharma Publications, Hong Kong, 1990], the author notes that several Angkor Borei-style images ​“are imports or copies from South India or Sri Lanka,” while pointing out that several Khmer art images, in particular at Wat Romlok, ​“represent a synthesis of artistic traditions from North and South India or Sri Lanka.”