Provenance Information

Probably acquired in the 1960s by Robert R. Charles [American, 1938-2020], who served as a Peace Corps Staff member in northeastern Thailand from 1965-1968; 2011, gifted to the Worcester Art Museum by Robert R. Charles.

Exhibition Information

N/A

Publication Information

N/A

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Probably acquired in the 1960s by Robert R. Charles [American, 1938-2020], who served as a Peace Corps Staff member in northeastern Thailand from 1965-1968; 2011, gifted to the Worcester Art Museum by Robert R. Charles.

Provenance Information

Probably acquired in the 1960s by Robert R. Charles [American, 1938-2020], who served as a Peace Corps Staff member in northeastern Thailand from 1965-1968; 2011, gifted to the Worcester Art Museum by Robert R. Charles.

Exhibition Information

N/A

Publication Information

N/A

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

The object is believed to have been acquired during the 1960s (ca. 1965-1968) when the previous owner was on assignment in northeastern Thailand as a Peace Corps Staff member.

Provenance Information

Probably acquired in the 1960s by Robert R. Charles [American, 1938-2020], who served as a Peace Corps Staff member in northeastern Thailand from 1965-1968; 2011, gifted to the Worcester Art Museum by Robert R. Charles.

Exhibition Information

N/A

Publication Information

N/A

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

The object is believed to have been acquired during the 1960s (ca. 1965-1968) when the previous owner was on assignment in northeastern Thailand as a Peace Corps Staff member.

Provenance Information

Said to have been excavated from Ban Chiang, Thailand, early 1970s. Ex coll. Owen S. Beckner (1918-2009), Georgia.

Exhibition Information

A Preview of the Collections, Schatten Gallery, February 15 - April 4, 1982

Publication Information

To our knowledge, this object has never been published.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Gifted to museum in 1981.

Provenance Information

Ex coll. Edd Wheeler, Macon, Georgia, acquired in Thailand, before December 29, 1972.

Exhibition Information

To our knowledge, this object has never been exhibited.

Publication Information

To our knowledge, this object has never been published.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Gifted to the museum in 1973.

Provenance Information

(Private dealer), Thailand; purchase, Fuji Murakami, Denver, CO, 1980s; gift, Denver Art Museum, 2019.

Exhibition Information

None

Publication Information

None

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This bowl is an excellent examples of the Sukhothai ware. It fills a significant gap in DAM’s collection of Thai ceramics and provides an opportunity to put this object in the public domain and facilitate future research.

Provenance Information

Beurdeley et Cie., Paris, by 1981; sold to Michael and Georgia de Havenon, New York, October 15, 1981 (as Thailand, Lopburi, 14th century); on loan to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 2017–2020; gift to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 2020

Exhibition Information

N/A

Publication Information

N/A

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

N/D

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

In order to put object into the public domain and facilitate further research.

Provenance Information

By 1978, Private Collection, Chicago. Sold at Sotheby’s London, November 14, 1988, lot 66; Offered at Sotheby’s on March 21, 2012, as Property of a European Collector; Purchased at Sotheby’s by Jeffrey B. Soref on March 21, 2012; Gift of Jeff Soref and Paul Lombardi to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2015.

Exhibition Information

The work was exhibited in the 1978 exhibition The Ideal Image: The Gupta Sculptural Tradition and its Influence at the Asia Society, New York, at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1980 to 1985, and in 2014 at The Metropolitan Museum in Lost Kingdoms.

Publication Information

Thanphong Kridakon, Pramuan phap pratima [A Collection of Sculptures], 1965, no. 3; P. Pal, The Ideal Image: The Gupta Sculptural Tradition and its Influence, 1978, p. 122, no .76, and exhibited; Rhie, Marylin M. Interrelationships Between the Buddhist Art of China and the Art of India and Central Asia from 618–755 A.D. Supplemento n. 54 agli Annali, vol. 48 (1988) fasc. 1. Napoli: Instituto universitario orientale, 1988: 42, fig. 66; Sotheby’s London, November 14, 1988, lot 66; Sotheby’s NY, 21 March 2012, lot 242; J. Guy, Lost Kingdoms, MMA, 2014, p. 76, cat. 23, and exhibited.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

This work was first published in a Thai publication in 1965. The work has provenance established to 1978, when it was exhibited and published with an accompanying description and photograph in the catalog. The work was exhibited from 1980 to 1985 at the Art Institute of Chicago, and it was published in 2012 when it was offered for sale at auction by Sotheby’s. It was exhibited and published by the Metropolitan Museum in the 2014 exhibition Lost Kingdoms. This miniature icon of a Buddha expounding the dharma has the distinction of being among the earliest renderings of this subject known from Mon territories. The preaching Buddha seated with pendant legs became the signature icon of the monumental stupas built by the Mon state in 8th century central Thailand. The importance of this miniature icon of a Buddha lies in both its serving as an early prototype for such monumental Buddhas, and the likelihood that it is the earliest version of this subject known.

Provenance Information

Unknown prior to its publication in the 1990 auction sale catalogue for Hapsburg Feldman S.A. Geneva, Gold, important ancient and ethic jewellery and work of art in precious metals, sale catalogue, May 14, 1990, lot 96; Purchased from the Hapsburg Feldman sale in 1990 by Jonathan Rosen, New York; Collection of Jonathon Rosen, New York, 1990 to 2015; given by Mr. Rosen to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2015

Exhibition Information

This object was on display in the Metropolitan Museum’s Southeast Asian Gallery since it was received as a loan from Jonathan Rosen in 2003 (L. 2003.25).

Publication Information

Hapsburg Feldman S.A. Geneva, Gold, important ancient and ethic jewellery and work of art in precious metals, sale catalogue, May 14, 1990, lot 96.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

The work was published in 1990 in connection with its sale at public auction in Geneva. It was placed on loan to the Metropolitan Museum in 2003 and has been in display since then.
This object is exceedingly rare and despite the loss of lower arms, evidences the artistic and technical skill of goldsmiths of this period. The object adds a valuable dimension to the understanding of small-scale personal devotional imagery in the early Buddhist art in mainland Southeast Asia.

Provenance Information

Purchased by Mr. James W. Alsdorf, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. The exact date that Mr. Alsdorf purchased this object is unknown; however, Mr. Alsdorf acquired the object by 1983 when he placed it on long-term loan at the Art Institute of Chicago. Attempts to determine from whom Mr. Alsdorf acquired the object were unsuccessful. Mrs. Marilynn Alsdorf publicly promised the object to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1997, signed a promised gift agreement for the object in 2002, and gave the object to the Art Institute of Chicago in 2016.

Exhibition Information

A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois (August 2 – October 26, 1997).


The object has been displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, from March 2003 to October 2003.

Publication Information

Pal, Pratapaditya with contributions by Stephen Little, A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago in association with Thames and Hudson, New York, (1997), p. 299: cat. 121 and plate p. 101.

Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970

Cumulative facts and circumstances

Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above

Cumulative facts and circumstances.
Gift or bequest expected or on loan prior to 2008.
This acquisition falls within two exceptions. First, the cumulative facts and circumstances known to the Art Institute of Chicago at the time of the acquisition allowed it to make an informed judgment to acquire the object. The exact date that Mr. Alsdorf purchased this object is unknown; however, Mr. Alsdorf acquired the object by 1983 when he placed it on long-term loan at the Art Institute of Chicago. Attempts to determine from whom Mr. Alsdorf acquired the object were unsuccessful. The object has been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2003 and 1997 and published in a major catalogue of South Asian art: A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection (1997). In addition, the acquisition furthers the representation of the artistic achievements of all civilizations in art museums because it represents the head of Buddha Shakyamuni from the Mon-Dvaravati culture that flourished in ancient Thailand and reveals the cultural interaction between India and Thailand in antiquity.
Second, the acquisition of the object was by gift and promised to the Art Insittute prior to 2008. Mrs Alsdorf publicly promised the object to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1997 and thereafter signed a promised gift agreement for the object in 2002.