Vietnam, Oc Eo Region, 5th/6th century

Óc Eo was part of the Funan kingdom that flourished in the Mekong Delta between the first and sixth centuries. By the third or fourth century, a 43-mile-long road connected Óc Eo to Angkor Borei, situating it between the flourishing Khmer Empire, and important international maritime trade routes accessible by the Mekong River. Due to this strategic location, Óc Eo became the economic and cultural center of the Mekong Delta, drawing traders and artists to this hotbed of cultural exchange to experience the wealth of foreign influences from all over South and Southeast Asia, including India. This “crossroads of Southeast Asia” stimulated a flourishing of the local artistic idiom.