Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c21.s9: Chapter X. Art in Other Islands
Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champā; Vol. II: Suvarṇadvīpa) v2.c21.s9
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- English
Contents
- v2.c21.s9.t1 1. The Philippines — 3 parts
- v2.c21.s9.t2 2. The Island of Celebes — 4 parts
Chapter X. Art in Other Islands
1. The Philippines
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That the influence of Indian art penetrated even into the Philippine islands is proved by two images. One of them, a Śiva image of copper, was found on the Sibu island in 1820. It is a little more than three inches high, and shows features of Indian or Indo-Javanese art.
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The second is a golden figure of a female deity (?) (Pl. LXXV, Figs. 1-2) seated cross-legged. It was found in a ravine on the left bank of the Wawa river near the town of Esperanza, Agusan Province, Mindanao. It is made of 21 karat gold, and weighs nearly 4 lbs. The figure has a richly decorated head-dress and many ornaments in arms and other parts of the body. It is presumably the image of a goddess, but in the absence of any attributes it is difficult to identify her. Although it cannot be regarded as very beautiful, the sharp features of the image show that the art technique was developed far beyond the primitive stage.¹
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¹ O. V., 1920, p. 101 and plates.
2. The Island of Celebes
v2.c21.s9.t2.1
The island of Celebes has yielded a fine bronze image of Buddha (Pl. LXXV, Fig. 3). It was found on the western coast, on the bank of the Karama river, about six miles inland. The most characteristic features of the figure are the fold-lines of the upper garment which passes over the left shoulder and leaves the right one bare. The fold-lines are neat and schematic, and so also are the small ringlets formed by the hair. The hands and legs are broken. The Buddha has a full oval face with thick lips and heavy features.
v2.c21.s9.t2.2
Artistically the image must be distinguished from the usual Indo-Javanese and Indo-Sumatran type, and its style is derived directly from India. Dr. Bosch traces it to the Amarāvatī school of sculpture. Perhaps it is safer to regard the style as of the early Gupta period without special reference to any locality.¹
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¹ T. B. G., Vol. 73 (1933), pp. 495-513 and plates.
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The presence of a similar bronze Buddha figure at Dong-Duong (Annam) shows the wide spread of the Gupta style of art over the whole region denoted by the term Far East.