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Arts in Southeast Asia Database
SculpturePhra Sai
This Buddha image is in seating posture and a subduing Mara attitude. It has small hair buds, flame-like halo, large face, big eyes, very large nose, smiling mouth of Lanchang style and large and even fingers.
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.
ArchitecturePainting of the Mahayana Buddha and Bodhisattva
The composition of this painting is written on a dark blue background with a curved and spiked frame. There are five Buddha sitting in rows inside the frame. Each Buddha wears dark color almost red, oblique and no streak robe. There is a small strip Samghati, from the left shoulder to the belly. The face and body are gold-plated. Above the head, there is a gold-plated flame halo with no urna which is an important symbol of royal intention Buddha images of King Rama IV. All Buddha are dhyana mudra (also called the samadhi mudra) on lotus base that support by singha base inside the glass curved arch. At the end of arch looks like hawk face beside. The middle crest is a Kranok pattern similar to the straight head naga. Top of the arch decorate by Bodhi tree, surround with frame Kranok pattern. This is the style of royal intention Buddha images arch of King Rama IV too. Under the base of each Buddha has a golden Khom alphabet on the red background.Above five Buddhas, there is a shining urna over the lotus. The center of urna has Khom alphabet. Under the lotus has Khom alphabet on red background. ฺBelow Buddhas are five persons who dress like an angel. Everyone wears jewelry that is gilded : crown with ears decorate, necklace, breast chain, bracelet. Wear striped paint cloth with two layers seam, golden anklet and shoes. Stand on the platform with cloth inside the arch which is similar to Buddhas arch without bodhi. Under each platform has golden Khom alphabet on red background, along with chicken, naga, turtle, cow and lion.All these paintings are related to the Mahayana belief. Because the alphabets that appear under each Buddha are : “Vairochana” “Akshobhya” “Ratnasambhava” “Amitabha” และ “Amogasiddhi” in order from left to right. This name corresponds to the Khom alphabets under the urna and above the paintings of the Buddha which read “Dhyani Buddhas” The Khom alphabets that are under the paintings of five person who dresses like angels are : “Samantabhadra” “Vajrapani” “Ratnapani” “Pattamapani” and “Vishvapani”. So, it corresponds to the paintings of each Dhyani Buddhas that have Bodhisattva below. And believe that animals below of each Bodhisattva are the symbol of the five Buddhas who enlighten in the earth. The urna that appears on top, there is three Khom alphabets inside which read : A U Ma or Ohm. It is the worship words of God in accordance with the belief in ancient Brahman. It is interesting that it was written above the text and images of Dhyani Buddhas, which is a subject in Buddhism.
ArchitectureBodhikhara
Some of the places where Bodhi trees enshrined have base around. There is a singha base in the square diagram. The wall is made of Chinese glazed tile and the stairs would have only one or four sides. There are some buildings that surround the Bodhi Tree, called the Bodhikhara, such as Wat Pathum Wanaram And Wat Bowonniwet Vihara, the Bodhikhara has square diagram. It has wall on ridges of the roof and leave the center area to allow the Bodhi Tree to grow.
SculpturePhra Mahajanaka Buddha
The Buddha Image is placed on top of the plaster base in the Subduing Mara gesture. The body is covered by the the flowered yellow robe with other decorations such as the multi-tiered conical diadem crown similar to Phra Maha Phichai Mongkut featuring 3-tier of diadem, each tier is decorated with moving flowers, the ear gears, necklace, rings, armlaces, pahurats, and sandals. The face is in the calm emotion, eyes down, curvy eyebrows, little smile at the mouth. Overall, the statue reflected the art traits of Rattanakosin arts.
