The twelve-month royal ceremonies mural painting

During the reign of King Rama V

Thai traditional tempera painting

The mural painting depicting ‘Twelve-Month Royal Ceremonies’ was painted on the panel between each window. The remarkable mural painting was influenced by western art in terms of use of horizontal lines, perspectives, small portraits, and realistic landscape. The buildings in the painting imitate real buildings in the Grand Palace as well as the neighbourhood such as Rajaworadit pier, and some pavilions or throne halls which were already destroyed or ruined or disappeared. The mural painting also displays a group of soldiers wearing uniform adopted from western style, along with Thai and foreigner people dressing in fashionable clothes.

The mural painting in the royal Vihāra of Wat Rajapradit was created during the reign of King Rama V. It displays the twelve-month royal ceremonies for good fortune and prospority. The story in the mural painting conformed with ‘the Twelve-Month Royal Ceremonies ’, a literature written by King Rama V and ‘The Poetry of Dvatossamas’ composed by Prince Bamrab Porapak.

Some ceremonies depicted in the mural painting still exist presently; while some are lost and discontinued or disappeared according to social and cultural change. The mural painting hence illustrates the details of theceremonies in the past. The Twelve-month Royal Ceremonies are also depicted on the mural painting at Wat Senasnaram in Ayutthaya province. The latter mural painting was done in the reign of King Rama V as well.

The royal literary work entitled ‘Twelve- Month Royal Ceremonies’ and ‘Phraratchaphithi Thawathotsamat’ poem

The mural painting at Wat Senasnaram, Ayutthaya province

ฉัตรบงกช ศรีวัฒนสาร. “การพระราชพิธีสิบสองเดือนในจิตรกรรมฝาผนังวัดราชประดิษฐสถิตมหาสีมาราม กรุงเทพมหานคร” (วิทยานิพนธ์ศิลปศาสตรมหาบัณฑิต (ประวัติศาสตร์ศิลปะ) บัณฑิตวิทยาลัย มหาวิทยาลัยศิลปากร, 2546.)