King Jayavarman VII, the son of King Thoraninthravarman II and Queen Sichai Ratjutamanee, was the greatest king of the ancient Khmer Empire. With the original name Prince Varman, he was born around 1668 B.E. (Some data indicated 1670 B.E.) During the reign of King Suryavarman II, he married Princess Chairachthewi since his young age, which was an important influence in making him convert to Mahayana Buddhism and was the first king to practice Buddhism. He held a wise and competent talent in battling and that he was able to restore the Khmer throne from the invasion of the Cham army and enthroned himself as King titled King Jayavarman VII. And he restored the capital known as “Angkor Thom” or “Great City” and relocated the capital city from the Papuan temple of the Shiva sect to the newly built Bayon Temple as a place of worship in Mahayanaism. He established the concept “Living Buddha” or Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara which means that he himself was born to dispel the people’s suffering.
His facial carved image appearing at the pagodas in many castles is believed to be his face in the form of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. His reign in the 18th century was the greatest prosperous period of the Khmer Empire. His greatness spread to the surrounding lands. This can be seen from the evidence of inscriptions and works of art in Thailand, Laos and Vietnam nowadays, especially the realistic sculptures of King Jayavarman VII being frequently found in many places. And that the realistic sculptures of King Jayavarman VII is one of Kunthon Sowapee’s inspirations to create this masterpiece.
The stone carving created by Kunthon Sowapee is the handicraft skill inherited from his father, Suntorn Sowapee, the National Master Artisan 2016 and one of the legendary stone carving artisans of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province. Fascinated by sandstone carving, they both create many unique works of Art that reflect similar style of sandstone carving influenced by the ancient Khmer Empire.
The exceptional experience handed down from generations to generations creates the distinct skills enabling to determine the size and proportion of each piece of sandstone and carve out similar to the pattern of the ancient work. However, the stone used for carving must be fine-grained, firm, not layered, so that when extracted, it will not be crispy or easily broken. Inside the rock, there must be no deposited rock, which is a poorly formed rock. (Hard rock as granite or possibly the soil in the rock) may cause damage to the work piece.
In addition to cutting stone, Kunthon adheres to the same principles as Master Suntorn, that is to cut the stone, the size and proportion must be set correctly. Cutting off the excess stones must be cut in a straight line, otherwise it will spoil the stone texture and distort the proportion of the workpiece.
Regarding creating each work piece, Kunthon not only uses the skills derived from his father, but he also studies the ancient Khmer style of stone carving, including the work of architectural elements and various structural works in order to make the new creations similar to the characteristics of the most ancient works. Moreover, Kunthon still uses ancient stone carving tools and a variety of tools according to the nature and size of the work pieces to create an exquisite sandstone carving Art.