page_title: Culture of Laos
section_title: Sculpture
hierarchical_section_title: Culture of Laos / Art / Sculpture
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Bouddhas dans la pagode Vat May à Luang Prabang
context_page_description: Laos developed its culture and customs as the inland crossroads of trade and migration in Southeast Asia over millennia. As of 2012 Laos has a population of roughly 6.4 million spread over 236,800 km², yielding one of the lowest population densities in Asia. Yet the country of Laos has an official count of over forty-seven ethnicities divided into 149 sub-groups and 80 different languages. The Lao Loum have throughout the country's history comprised the ethnic and linguistic majority. In Southeast Asia, traditional Lao culture is considered one of the Indic cultures.
  Laos is geographically isolated and mountainous, bounded by the Annamite Range in the east, forming a traditional political and cultural boundary with Vietnam. Much of the western borders of Laos are formed by the Mekong River which provided the major means of inland trade despite limited navigability along the river's length. Prior to the 20th century Lao principalities and the Kingdom of Lan Xang extended to the Sipsong Panna, Sipsong Chau Tai, and Khorat Plateau where the river was used as a transportation artery to connect Lao peoples on both the right and left banks.
context_section_description: Buddhist motifs dominate Lao decorative art forms. Sculpture is among the most prominent form of traditional Lao art.  Sculptures of the Buddha were traditionally cast in bronze, silver, gold or thong which is a gold and silver alloy.  Wooden Buddha images were made by individuals seeking merit are common at the local village level.  The sculptures follow conventional forms and mudras found throughout Theravada Southeast Asia, with two forms being almost unusually Lao in origin.  The most common form is the standing Buddha in a “calling for rain” mudra, with hands at his side in a downward position, and a symmetrical flowing robe on both sides.  Another less common Lao mudra is again standing, with hands crossed in front at the wrists in a “contemplation” mudra.  These images have their origins in the sixteenth century, and are further characterized by longer facial features, and thinner more aquiline noses.
  The most culturally and religiously significant sculpture in Laos today is the Phra Bang a gold statue from which the city of Luang Pra Bang takes its name.  According to legend the Phra Bang was cast in Ceylon, transferred to the Khmer Empire and then came north to Lan Xang at the request of Fa Ngum's Khmer queen.  Other historically significant Buddha images include the colossal bronze Buddha images found in Wat Ong Teu and Wat Manorom. Smaller images are also found at the Haw Phra Kaew, and Wat Sisaket in Vientiane or in the many temples like Wat Visoun in Luang Prabang. These Buddha images were produced in Laos and show many of the hallmarks of traditional craftsmanship.
  A number of significant Buddha images to Lao history have been lost or taken during the conflicts of the nineteenth and twentieth century.  The most significant is the “Emerald Buddha,” or Phra Kaew, which resides at the Grand Palace in Bangkok as the palladium of Thailand. Similarly the Phra Phutta Butsavarat, or “Crystal Buddha,” was the palladium of the Kingdom of Champasak and was taken to Bangkok in the nineteenth century.  Several other important images which originated in the Kingdom of Lan Na were taken to Laos by King Setthathirath (who was briefly King of Lan Na) in the sixteenth century. These images were crafted for each of his daughters from solid gold, and include the Phra Sae Kham (housed at Wat Pho Chai in Nong Khai, Thailand), Phra Seum (housed at Wat Patum Wanaram, in Bangkok, Thailand), and the Phra Souk.  These images were taken by the Thai armies in the nineteenth century to Isan and were ultimately bound for Bangkok. Ironically the Phra Souk or “Lucky Buddha,” sank in the Mekong during the storm which occurred when the three images were being moved by the Thais, the legend is depicted in murals at the Wat Pho Chai. In Amnat Charoen Province, Thailand the Phra Lao Thep Nimit is another fine example of Lao sculpture which now resides in Thailand.   Other sets of royal Buddha images were lost entirely during the era of French colonialism.  Many were sold or taken as souvenirs, a number of royal images were lost in 1910 when the French gunboat the La Grandiere sank on the Mekong en route to a Paris exhibition.
caption: Bronze Buddha sculptures, Wat Mai, Luang Prabang
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