Focusing on an extraordinary eighth-century statue of Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future, excavated in north central Thailand in 1964, this volume provides an overview of Buddhist art in Southeast Asia from the seventh to ninth centuries.

The large sculpture of Maitreya now in the collection of The Asia Society Galleries, New York, is reportedly one of a group of stunning bronzes excavated from the base of an abandoned temple in the village of Prakhon Chai in Thailand's Buriram Province. It is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest examples of the art of the region.

The sculptures from Prakhon Chai - noted for their exquisite craftsmanship and their elegant physiques, relaxed poses, and scanty clothing and jewelry - raise challenging questions about style and iconography in the Buddhist art of Thailand and Cambodia.

This volume, which documents an exhibition organized and circulated by The Asia Society Galleries, features an essay by Nandana Chutiwongs, a leading scholar of early Buddhist art in the region, that surveys regional styles and stylistic developments in Southeast Asian Buddhist sculpture from the seventh through the ninth centuries - an important addition to the available literature on the subject.

In an essay raising more general issues of art history and religious development Denise Patry Leidy, curator of The Asia Society Galleries and of the Buddha of the Future exhibition, discusses the distinctive iconography of the sculptures from Prakhon Chai and the possible relationship between them and the spread of esoteric Buddhism in the region at the time.

In addition to numerous color views of the centerpiece Maitreya, the book includes rich duotone illustrations of a number of important sculptures from Prakhon Chai and related sites; works from the neighboring Buddhist cultures of Cambodia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and the Indonesian archipelago; and a selection of statues from India, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia exemplifying the complex imagery of Maitreya.