Review by Choice Review
Over the last decade, reexamination of inscriptional evidence, as well as continuing archaeological research, has led a number of Thai and Western scholars to challenge the traditional classifications and chronology of Thai art. Gosling, an independent scholar, wrote this book to illustrate how new interpretions, her own and others, have revised our view of the most significant period of Thai art. Unlike C. Stratton and M. McNair Scott in their 1981 The Art of Sukhothai (CH, May'82), she avoids conventional categories; instead, she weaves Sukhothai's artistic, cultural, and political history together to form a convincing and absorbing account of how art, especially architecture and sculpture, evolved under Buddhist rulers from the 13th to the 15th century, dealing deftly along the way with influences from the city-state's neighbors in Southeast Asia: Mon, Khmer, Burmese, Vietnamese, and Sinhalese. All the familiar monuments are here, just arranged a little differently, ilustrated in 20 adequate color plates and 86 black-and-white figures. A useful and important book for any student interested in contemporary thinking on Thai art. Includes glossary, short discussion, and list of sources. M. Morehart; University of British Columbia
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
