Khmer Bronzes: New Interpretations of the Past

This book explores the ways in which the Indic gods appeared on the Khmer sacred landscape, together with new bronze-casting techniques adapted by Khmer artisan metalworkers. These techniques enabled the production of large-scale bronzes in anthropomorphic form to fulfill the sacred requirements of the newly arrived beliefs. Examining the econographic, stylistic, and technical features of khmer imagery in light of many new interpretations of the historical past, the authors seek to provide new understanding of the sacred bronzee imagery. This has long been overshadowed by scholarly emphasis on temples and sandstone imagery.