Dhamma Book Chest

From the art style, it is assumed that it was created in Late Ayutthaya or early Rattanakosin.

Apply gold leaf on black coat or Watering pattern

The legs of Dhamma Book Chest is made of plain square wood. It is called “Kha mu” hence the Dhamma Book Chest is called “Dhamma Book Chest Kha mu”.

The lid is in the Watering pattern drawing a cosmic landscape painting in Buddhist motto. The drawing is divided into two parts and there is a gray line in between the two parts.

Below the gray line shows Himmapan Forest. On the left side of appears Anodard pool. It is a large circle pool which is the origin of four rivers. Each river comes out of the mouth of an animal; elephant, horse, cow, lion.

On the right side appears other pools in Himmapan Forest. The size of the pools are smaller and there are flowers and lotuses inside the pools. There are also trees, rocks, and animals around.

On top of the gray line appears Mount Sumeru in the middle. On the top part is Tavatimsa heavens where the Indra stays. There is a castle in the middle and Erawan elephant at the bottom acting like it is carrying the castle. Chulamanee Stupa is on the right. On both side of Mount Sumeru is Sattaboriphan mountain or seven circles that surround Mount Sumeru. Each mountain has different high shown in the drawing as seven bars. This shows that the artist looked at half of Sattaboriphan when drawing. Above each mountain appears pictures of angels and there place. There are also two circles that represent the sun and the moon.

The application of old leaf on the black coat is still beautiful and it is in perfect condition.

Prayoon U-luchata (nornapaknam). Dhamma Book Chest, the best of Watering pattern, Bangkok: Ancient City, 2001.

Settaman Kanjanakul. Watering pattern cabinet, Bangkok: Setthasilp, 2016.