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Arts in Southeast Asia Database
PaintingKhao Chan Ngam Prehistoric color paintings
All paintings are in red color. They are 2-4 meters above the ground. Past studies of the Fine Arts Department and Silpakorn University classified the paintings that were found into 12 groups according to the position found. There are 44 paintings altogether, 32 human paintings, 5 animal paintings (dog, birds or chicken, lizard? porcupine? tiger?), a painting of a bow and an arrow. And 5 paintings that are unable to identify. 2 painting techniques used are silhouette and outline. Most people in the paintings have large calves wearing sarong but no shirt. Women in the paintings have a bird's tail hanging from the waist and form a tassel on their head.Group 1: These are the most prominent and important set of paintings on the east stone wall with the size of 1x2 meters. The paintings are silhouette. There are 2 rows (top and bottom) of a group of 14 people, both male and female, children and adults, and a picture of a dog. Details are as follows:Top row: It is a painting of 3 people. The first person shows only half the body without the head. The second person is standing with his arms open and there is cloth with the striped hem spread out from both sides of the waist. The painting was drawn from a straight angle but the person in the painting is turning his face to the right. The side of the third person is displayed. He is turning his face to a different direction from the second person. This is a painting with a neck, some parts of the body, and thighs missing. Bottom row: It is a painting of people walking in a line. The first painting of the bottom row is about 30 centimeters below the top row. It is a painting of a person standing in a position of shooting arrows with an arrow already being shot out from the bow. The painting shows the side view of the person with hair on the head, cloth hanging from the front and the back and the outer hem of the cloth is with stripes. The back leg of the person was shifted. Next to this painting is the painting of a male dog with upright ears and sword tail. Its body is long and thin. Below the painting of the dog is a painting of 2 persons, one is a man and another one is a woman. One is sitting with the knees up and another one has the top naked with a big belly and a tail like a bird. It seems like they are talking in the painting. Next to that is a painting of a person standing with arms akimbo wearing two pieces of clothes covering the front and the back. The right arm is raised up to the elbow. The painting shows the side of the person. About 20 centimeters from this painting is a painting of a hunchback person with hair on the head, cloth hanging from the front and the back and the front hem of the cloth is with stripes. The right hand is stretching out to hold an object like a cane. In front of this painting is a painting of a person standing with both arms raised as if the person is performing a traditional dance. The back thigh is missing. Next is a painting of a side view of woman performing a traditional dance. In front of the woman is a person stretching out the arms with a veil and there is a cross on the back of the veil. Next to that is a painting of 2 children performing a traditional dance. One child is raising up both of the arms and another one is raising up the right arm while the left arm akimbo. They wear two pieces of clothes covering the front and the back. Following that is a faint red painting. Group 2: Located on the eastern side of the stone wall near the paintings of group 1, but they are on a different stone wall. There is a clear painting of a person running or performing a traditional dance while looking back. The detail from the knees to the toes are missing. This side of the wall has a trace of painting, but has completely faded and only red stripes can be seen. Group 3: Located on the eastern side of the stone wall. It is a painting of a man catching a reptile that looks like a chameleon, an iguana, or a lizard. There are 3 zigzag lines not far from the painting of the person.Group 4: Located on the eastern side of the stone wall. It is a painting of 3 people with no head in a standing position. Two of them are wearing cloth like short skirts above the knee.Group 5: Located on the western side of the stone wall. It is a painting of 3 people standing next to a painting of an animal that looks like a hedgehog or a wild boar. 2 painting techniques were used, silhouette and outline. The animal and the person standing in front of the animal were drawn in outline. Another painting of the person in a running position wearing cloth that covers the front and the back is in silhouette. Group 6: A painting of 3 people. The most completed person is in the center of the painting. It is a painting of a man spreading his arms out wearing cloth that covers the front and the back. The details from the knees and lower are missing. It can be assumed that the person is performing a traditional dance. The other 2 paintings are not completed, one with half of the top part of the body missing and another one with the lower part starting from the hip is missing. Group 7: A painting of an animal that looks like a lion or a tiger. There are 5 red dots in front of the animal caused by some missing colors.Group 8: A painting of 2 people performing a traditional dance. The painting shows only the top part of the body, the bottom part is missing. Group 9: A painting of a person with the arms raised. One side of the tip of the arm and the leg are missing. There are vertical stripes drawn on the side of the person. That maybe the person painting that has faded (?) Group 10 A painting of a person with no head and the body is in a curling position. Group 11 There are three paintings that all may be paintings of 3 people, but the paintings are faded and unclear. Group 12 A painting of a half-body person with the right arm spread out and the left arm paralleled to the ground.
PaintingDhamma Book Chest
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.
PaintingDhamma Book Chest
Dhamma Book Chest is decorated with Watering pattern. The top part of the chest is a covered with a picture of a tree with branches, leaves, and flowers. On the bottom part, there is a characteristic Thai design resembling tongues of flame, Garuda, birds, insects, squirrel, and other animals. Although the top and the bottom parts show different components, the details are still very harmonious and lively. This shows the freedom of the artist in using the imagination to creating the artwork without having any bad effect to the convention or nature’s rules.
PaintingThe paintings of 550 Jataka tales
Ubosot walls are divided into equal sized squares decorated by Kranok pattern frames. Each square is painted a different tale and there is a message written on the bottom of painting. Each story is represented through an important event in each life. Pictures of significant people, for examples, Bodhisattva, angels, and a king with gilded attire, all act according to Natyalakshana (the characteristics of dance art that classify each character). The buildings styles are traditional Thai style and Chinese style. The houses are in modern style of that time.
PaintingThe Painting of Sri Thanonchai’s story
The Painting of Sri Thanonchai’s story is located between the windows of the vihara of Wat Pathum Wanaram. The painting style and the drawing techniques are the same as the other four paintings in the reign of King Rama IV; The principles of visualization show distance and dimension of images are applied. Some famous architectures of that time are, for example, the painting of the palace that simulated some buildings from the Grand Palace, the painting of the temple that simulated Wat Pathum Wanaram, the painting of people dressed as real people such as soldiers who wore uniform which was influenced from the west, the painting of the villagers dressed in Thai and Laos style, the painting of the nature such as the river with the boat and the sky with clouds.
PaintingVipassana Meditation Murals
Vipassana Meditation painting was painted on the wall between the windows on the left of the principle Buddha. The background of the painting is the drawing of the forest with brown rocks. There are pictures of monks and villagers in different position. The men wear loincloths with breechcloths. Women wear sarongs and cover with Sabai. The skin color of each person is different. Even though the artist starts to use shading technique in drawing, the dimension of the painting is still missing, according to the visualization principal. Traditional Thai paintings in the old days are the same; the artists wrote short descriptions under the paintings.
PaintingRoyal articles of use in Lai Rodnam style
There are 28 paintings in Lai Rodnam style on Ban Plae of doors and windows in Wat Nang Nong chapel. They are paintings of royal articles of use, Crown Jewels, decorations, weapons, and music instruments that are used in royal ceremonies. In the paintings, there are images of the royal regalia such as tiered umbrella, a sunshade and a fan as a background. All of the patterns are in gold leaf on the lacquer background.
PaintingThe painting of Mahosot Jataka
The stories featured in the wall painting are traditional tales such as the life of Lord Buddha, The Gathering of Devas Jataka, and Buddhist Cosmology. However, there is evidence of Western influences in the form of realistic style of painting in each scene in the buildings and the livelihood of people. The painting also reflected the traditional technique of depiction of the royalties through the Ramayana’s like style of humans, both for male and female characters with the glid on top of them. The darker color background also drives the pictures of the Palace, households and humans to stand out in the dimensional way.
