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SculptureRoyal Emblems of the Thai Kings
Each pavilion is made of gilded metal decorated with glass. The open pavilions have redented columns on each corner which support the pointed roof. Each column of the pavilions’ are adorned with Thepphanom motifs or Devatas performing the Añjali Mudrā hand gesture, while the multi-tiered pedestals decorated with rows of gilded Thepphanom figurines.The northern pavilion houses the Royal Emblems of King Rama I-III as follows: the Royal emblem of King Rama I is a tiered crown without ear decoration; the Royal emblem of King Rama II is Garuda seizing Nāga; and the Royal emblem of King Rama III is a celestial palace. One of the pavilion in the south houses the Royal Emblems of King Rama IV which is a tiered crown with ear decorations and the other one enshrines King Rama V’s Royal Emblem, namely Phra Kiao or a coronet. The pavilion in the northeast houses 4 Royal emblems as follows: the Royal Emblem of King Rama VI is a Vajira or thunderbolt; the Royal Emblem of King Rama VII is 3 arrows named Phrasaengson Phrommat, Phrasaengson Pralaiwat, and Phrasaengson Akhaniwat. Above the arrow rack, the Emblem of the Royal House of Chakri is located under the Great Crown of Victory; the Royal Emblem of King Rama VIII is a deity seated on a lotus throne in Lalitasana pose; and The Royal Emblem of King Rama IX is the Atthathit Uthumphonratcha-at Royal Throne with an Unalom symbol enclosed by a Chakra and its rays of light. Nophapadon Maha Saweta Chatra or the White Nine-tiered Umbrella is over the throne. These Royal Emblems are housed in the pavilions located on a marble base decorated with bronze elephant sculptures which represent the Royal white elephants and auspicious elephants of each king.
ArchitectureWat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram
The Ubosot of Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram is a masonry traditional building with wooden and glazed terra-cotta tiled roof. It has a roof composed of two superimposed tiers, and the pediments are decorated with a wooden gable bearing a gilded figure of Narayana on a Garuda decorated with glass mosaics. The roof is also adorned with traditional Thai roof finials, and the redented roof-supporting columns are gilded and decorated with glass mosaics. The capitals of the columns are decorated with pointed, superimposed lotus petals. Also, the roof eave is supported by brackets. The exterior wall of the Ubosot is gilded and decorated with a colored glass mosaics in lotus bud motifs.In the Ubosot, the Emerald Buddha is housed on a grand multi-tiered pedestal in front of which are several important Buddha Images, i.e. Phra Putthayotfachulalok, Phra Putthaloetla, Phra Samphutthaphanni, etc. Mural paintings displayed on the interior wall depict Tribhumi, Buddha’s life story, the royal parade, and the royal barge procession. Other significant buildings of the temple are as follows: in the north of the Ubosot, Phra Sriratana Chedi is erected on a tiered supporting base. The bell-shaped Chedi replicates the original Chedi at Wat Phrasisanphet in Ayutthaya Province. The Chedi is fully ornamented with golden tiles. Next to the Chedi, is Phra Mondop where Tipiṭaka or the Buddhist scriptures are kept. The building with a square plan has a multi-tiered conical roof with a spire on top. Its doors feature pearl-inlaid work. Dvarapala Yakṣa sculptures stand in front of the building, and the step entrance are flanked by figures of Nāgas with human’s face. In the same area, the Royal Pantheon, a four-porched building with a multi-tiered roof and a stupa on top, is situated. The four pediments are decorated with royal emblems of King Rama I to King Rama IV. The window panels are adorned with royal emblems of King Rama I to King Rama V. The Royal Pantheon houses statues of the previous kings of the Rattanakosin Era.
PaintingMural Paintings Depicting Ramayana
The mural paintings show a combination of traditional and modern painting techniques as follows: the traditional painting techniques are demonstrated through the main characters’ dresses are similar to those in the Masked dance drama, they are showing the same dance movements, and the characters’ adornments are gilded. The modern painting techniques include the use of horizon lines and perspective, imitation of real buildings such as palaces in the Grand Palace, and depiction of real landscapes. In addition, the paintings also show ways of life of people in the Thai Royal Court and ordinary Thai people and humor through the supporting characters. There are 178 painting panels in total; and each painting comes with verse of Ramayana poetry on the lower part of the panels, 224 verses in total.
SculptureYakṣas at the Temple of the Emerald Buddha
The 12 sculptures are made of stucco with colorful glazed porcelain adornments according to Rammakian including different types of crowns, blouses, costumes, pointed sandals, etc. Their bodies were also painted according to the literary work.6 pairs of Yakṣas are as follows: 1.Suriyaphop – Intharachit 2.Mangkonkan – Wirunhok 3.Thotsakhichanthon – Thotsakhiriwan 4.Chakrawat – Atsakanmarasun 5.Thotsakan - Sahatsadecha Maiyarap - Wirunchambang
SculptureReplica of Angkor Wat
The replica of Angkor Wat was built in a square plan. The main tower, the highest building at the centre of the plan, was built on three descending levels in a cloistered enclosure order. Each cloister or gallery consists of columns and connecting roof. A gopura or entrance is in the middle of each side of the galleries, the 4 corners feature superimposed pediments. Since it is not an exact replication, the proportion and details of the replica are different from the original sanctuary: the tired roofs of the main tower and subordinate towers are those of pagodas in Thai arts.
ArchitecturePhra Sumen Fort
Phra Sumen Fort is an octagonal building built with brick and stucco which faces Banglamphu Canal. The fort with a double wall has 3 step gateways, merlons and crenels.The outer wall is separated from the inner wall by a wall with pointed boundary markers on top. There is A door to the front of the fort. The front part of the outer wall has large rectangular merlons with small cross-shaped holes. The inner wall has a step gateway at the back side, and pointed boundary markers are on top of the inner wall and 4 pointed arches are cut through below on each side. The inner ward is divided into rooms for keeping black-powder ammunition and weapons, while the upper part of the inner wall is the battle tower.
SculptureBan Chiang Pottery
It is a pottery in the tomb found from excavations of Ban Chiang Archaeological Site. It can be classified as follows:1.Early periods, at least between 4,300-3,000 years old.Phase 1 There are prominent types of potteries which are black-dark gray potteries with a low base. The upper half of the container is often decorated with curved lines with pressed dots and short lines. The lower half of the container is often decorated with handprint rope which is the pattern resulting from pressing the pottery surface with a rope. Phase 2 New type of pottery began to appear. It was a large pottery used to hold the bodies of children before being buried. There was also an ordinary-sized pottery with most of the surface outside of the container decorated with curved lines and that makes it seems like it was the container with more lines decorated than the one of the early periods.Phrase 3 Appeared potteries with the straight side wall or almost straight resulting in having a beaker-shaped container. There was also a short, round-necked pot with a straight mouth. It was decorated with handprinted rope on the entire container. Phase 4 Appeared round bottom pottery. The shoulder area of the pottery was decorated with curved lines mixed with red painting. While the part under the shoulder area was decorated with handprinted rope. This pottery was called “Om Kaew" because it was the main pottery type found in Ban Om Kaew, which was not far from Ban Chiang, during the prehistoric period.2.Middle periods, at least between 3,000-2,000 years old. The outer surface area of the pottery is white with clear sharp or curve angles in most of the shoulder areas. There are both round and pointed bottoms. Some of the potteries were decorated with stripes mixed with color painted near the mouth of the container and during the end of the middle period, the mouth of this type of pottery were decorated with red paint.3.Late periods: between 2,300-1,800 years agoThe early times of the Late periods: found potteries with red color painted on a soft color surface.The middle time of the Late periods: started to use potteries with red color painted on a red surface. The late times of the Late periods: started to use potteries painted with red color then wax. The pattern that appears on the potteries can be classified as follows:1. Geometrical motifs2. Free symmetry pattern3. Asymmetrical balanced pattern groupsThe popular patterns in the late periods were to color on the soft clay coating with circle or oval patterns, spiral patterns, spiral towards the center patterns, spiral towards the center, then looping out, and the S and Z patterns.The pattern of the container shows meticulousness of the potters. They created the potteries for the dead according to tradition and belief about death. The basic idea of the pattern creator in the community is culturally mutual but there were varieties of patterns appearing at the same time. In the initial stages, the patterns were simple and later, when the potters had more expertise, the patterns gradually became more and more complex.
PaintingPha Taem Prehistoric Color Painting
It can be divided into 4 groups according to the name and the position of the cliff, they are Pha Kham, Pha Taem, Pha Mon Noi, and Pha Mon. They are all facing the east.1. Pha KhamIt shows a painting of 4 large fishes approximately 0.35 - 1.00 meters long written in a red x-ray style to see the internal structure. In addition, there is a painting of an elephant which is much smaller than a fish (about 13 cm) and a painting of a quadruped.2. Pha TaemThere are paintings all along the cliff. They are 180 meters long and about 4 - 5 meters above the ground. There are more than 300 color paintings at Pha Taem. There are paintings created by the rain gouging into the rock creating some lines patterns; some are straight, some are arranged along a straight line, some oblique, some horizontal. They are from 5 - 15 centimeters in height. The remaining section is only about 80 centimeters long and they are possibly some iconic images. Most of the color paintings in this area are written in red, only some are in black and white divided into small sizes of human paintings and only 10 of them were found.Paintings of animals such as elephants, fish, turtles or snapping turtle, dog, cow, chicken or bird etc. are often painted as large as the real thing, especially elephant and fish whose size is up to 4 meters long and about 3 meters high. There are about 30 animal paintings found and both human and animal paintings are often in motion.Object paintings. This could be a fishing tool called a "Toom" and a crossbow or bow that a person is holding.Geometrical motifs. The motifs are in twisted, wavy or zigzag lines that can refer to “water” or a fish trap. They are also in herringbone, geometric, parallel lines that looks like ricefields, etc.Human hands. There are more than 200 hands, both of children and adults. The colors are red, black, and white. All types of paintings are always drawn together, especially the hands that appear in every painting.Most of the paintings are silhouette. Others are outlines and stick men. The human hand paintings are stencils, imprints, and outlines.3. Pha Mon NoiThis section shows a painting of a person about 1.6 meters tall holding a bow aimed at a four-legged animal, possibly a pregnant cow with the body size of 6.4 meters long. Next to that is a painting of a person about 1.2 meters tall chasing a horned four-legged animal which might be a deer that invaded the ricefields. surrounding this group of paintings are paintings of about 20 hands, both left hands and right hands created by putting the paint on the palm then scraping off some of the paint on the fingers and palms and then imprinting the hand on the wall. Next is a painting of three four-legged animals with bloated bellies and it looks like they are pregnant as well. There is a drawing that is similar to the net of an animal trap and also paintings of connected parallel lines. There are, in addition, 15 human hands paintings arranged in long wavy lines. They are similar to the ones of the first group. Paintings of people and animals were painted in red silhouette. It is noteworthy that all types of paintings at Pha Taem and Pha Mon Noi are related. Whether it is a picture of a person and a cow with hands, fish and hands, ‘Toom’ with hands, geometrical motifs of ricefields, people, and deer with hands, or a painting of a person hunting a cow or a deer.4. Pha MonIn this section, there are paintings of people and animals written in red silhouette.In this first group, there is only a painting of a single person and 11 four-legged animals, possibly elephants, cows, dogs and pigs, or sheep or goats, walking in the same direction. (Except for one animal, possibly a dog that is facing the herd)In the second group, there are paintings of about 10 people drawn in silhouette and stickmen. They all look quite realistic, even their calves are aneurysms. An interesting painting of the Pha Mon is the painting of a person wearing a half-calf length skirt standing with arms akimbo, not sure whether it is a woman or a man. This painting is larger than other paintings. Moreover, they are paintings of the right hands of adults, 2 paintings in stencil, 2 imprinted paintings, and 2 imprinted paintings of children hands. It can be noticed that there are always paintings of hands appearing in all 4 groups of paintings. This could refer to a cooperation in doing an activity such as fishing. cultivating, raising animals, or hunting. This shows that the illustrators might be in agricultural society and they may share common belief in fertility.
