Lacquered with Mother of Pearl inlaid panels depicting first class Royal Decorations

Keywords : Wooden Door, Wat Ratbophit , Wat Ratbophit Sathitmahasimaram, Ubosot of Wat Ratbophit , Ubosot of Wat Ratbophit Sathitmahasimaram

Site common name	Wat Ratbophit Sathitmahasimaram
Site alternative name	Wat Ratbophit
Type of artwork	Sculpture
Sub district	Wat Ratchabophit
District	Khet Phra Nakhon
Province	Bangkok
Region	Central
Country	Thailand
Geographic Coordinates Decimal degree	Lat : 13.748971 Long : 100.497339
Geographic Coordinates UTM	Zone : 47 P Hemisphere : N E : 661888.44 N : 1520463.65
Place of artwork	Shrine

History of production	Mother of Pearl Inlays on the door panels were assumed to be designed by Prince Tivakorn Wongprawat, who was a son of King Rama IV to a concubine named Chaochom Marnda Chan.
Production process	Lacquer and pearl-inlays
Art	The Mother of Pearl inlaid panels concist of 5 Royal Decorations as follows: 1.the Ancient and Auspicious Order of the Nine Gems, 2.the Most Illustrious Order of the Royal House of Chakri, 3.Knight Grand Cordon (Special Class) of the Most Illustrious Order of Chula Chom Klao, 4.Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant, and 5.Knight Grand Cross (First Class) of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand. Made of small shards of pearl, each of these motifs is surrounded by a shoulder strap and a chain depicting the initial of the King Rama 9’s name, namely จ.ป.ร. and the Emblem of the Royal House of Chakri. These motifs represent the high-ranked Royal Decorations.
School	Artisans
Key academic information	The exterior door panels of the Ubosot at Wat Ratbophit Sathitmahasimaram bear lacquer with Mother of Pearl inlays which are regarded as one of the most important exquisite art objects of the Rattanakosin Period. The panels depict 5 different first class Royal Decorations firstly awarded in the reign of King Rama V, and they also demonstrate the most exquisite craftsmanship of pearl-inlay artists of that time which fell below its peak in the following reign. According to a record, the window and door panels of the Ubosot at Wat Ratchabopith once belonged to the Royal Pantheon in the Grand Palace. King Rama V ordered to create more Mother of Pearl-inlaid window and door panels during the restoration of the Temple of the Emerald Buddha on the occasion of the centennial celebration of Rattanakosin in 1882. After a conflagration at the Royal Pantheon, King Rama V had the pearl-inlaid window and door panels removed and used at Wat Ratbophit later on. Although pearl-inlays were popular exquisite Thai art objects and were recorded its emergence in the Ayutthaya period, these handiwork on the window and door panels have some unique characteristics which signify western ideologies, i.e. some realistic ideas, represented by details of the Royal Decoration motifs. Also, the motifs show that Royal Decorations were awarded to royal family members and general people as tokens of appreciation and auspicious items for doing government service. This is a tradition of western Royal Courts adopted by the Thai Royal Court.
Period	Historical Period
Art period	Rattanakosin
Age	25th Buddhist century
Religion and belief	Traditions in the Thai Royal Court
Legend	History of Thai Royal Decorations

Type of License	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND)
Rights	Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre
Date of record creation	2016-08-01
Record creator	Patsaweesiri Premkulanan
Bibliography	สุริยา รัตนกุล. พระอารามหลวงในกรุงเทพมหานคร. นครปฐม : มหาวิทยาลัยมหิดล, 2550-2552. ชัชพล ไชยพร บรรณาธิการ. ประมวลเอกสารจดหมายเหตุรัชกาลที่ 5 เรื่องวัดราชบพิธสถิตมหาสีมาราม. กรุงเทพฯ : วัดราชบพิธสถิตมหาสีมารามและสำนักงานพระพุทธศาสนาแห่งชาติ, 2553. ศุภชัย เสริมสุขเจริญชัย. “งานตกแต่งภายในพระอุโบสถวัดราชบพิธ สถิตมหาสีมาราม : การปรับเปลี่ยนสู่ศิลปะตะวันตกในสมัยรัชกาลที่ 5” (วิทยานิพนธ์ศิลปศาสตรมหาบัณฑิต (ประวัติศาสตร์ศิลปะ) บัณฑิตวิทยาลัย มหาวิทยาลัยศิลปากร, 2555.)