https://emuseum.cornell.edu/internal/media/dispatcher/72421/fullStanding Buddha in Royal Attire15th-16th century; Ayudhya PeriodHeight: 29 1/2 inches (74.9 cm)BronzeGift of Alexander B. Griswold75.071.0020Free-standing Buddha dressed in royal attire, robe covering both shoulders, with left arm at the side and right hand raised in abhayamudra ("fear not" hand gesture). The figure wears a ornamented crown with raised wire design of scrolling patterns; at the top is a cone-shaped finial consisting of three graduated round-edged sections divided by rings, with a gem at the top. Other ornamental jewelry include a necklace with a pendant suspended from chains, as well as armlets and bracelets. There is a simple belt at the waist and a central pleat between the legs. The robe spreads wide at the bottom. Fingers are elongated. Eyebrows curve downward in symmetry with the upward curve of the eyes; eyelids are straight and lowered. (See cat. nos. 93, 94 in Hiram Woodward's "The Sacred Sculpture of Thailand" 1997).Sculpture19076137753Unidentified artistThaiA popular Thai term for the Buddha wearing a crown is Phra Chao Song Khruang, “a lord wearing ornaments.” While standard depictions of the Buddha tend to show him without adornment, signifying his renunciation of material wealth and earthly desires, crowned images of the Buddha became popular in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries throughout Southeast Asia. One explanation for this change is linked to the iconography of the bodhisattva Maitreya, worshipped both as the Buddha of the next age, and as a transcendent bodhisattva, a divine being who has chosen to remain on earth to help others attain enlightenment. The adorned Buddha may thus be linked to representations of bodhisattvas in early Indian Buddhist art, in which they are commonly depicted as regal bejeweled figures.75.071.002_Disc8028_80285020