GILDED LACQUERED BUDDHIST MANUSCRIPT CABINET OF WAT BAN KAO: ART AND INSCRIPTION OF RAYONG RIVER BASIN IN EARLY RATTANAKOSIN PERIOD

Abstract

Wat Ban Kao, Ban Khai District, Rayong Province is an ancient temple in the Rayong River Basin that have found many important art. One of them from the survey found a gilded lacquered Buddhist manuscript cabinet. The inscription on the base of the cabinet stating that tha abbot of  Wat Ban Kao was built in 2333 B.E. (1790 A.D.), in the reign of King Rama I of the Rattanakosin period. The gold gilded mural painting adorn the cabinet depicting the Ten Jataka image, the meditation of Asubha-Kammatthana and the Himavanta Forest that is believed to be part of the Udena Jataka story. The composition of mural is similar to some gilded lacquered  cabinets in the Thonburi and Rattanakosin periods. The craftsmanship of the painting looks finely, but some points are local. The painting vertically sequence narrative along the cabinet shape by three sides. The characters are quite big and more details in the picture, using scenery, mountain ranges, and trees as a line dividing the scene from each other without appearing a delineation line. There is a specialty in selecting some Jataka paintings, such as scene of Mahosot (Maha Ummagga Jataka) conversations with Amaradevi, which are different scene from other mural paintings for this Jataka.This article aims to analyzed artistic together with the inscription on the cabinet,for dating the artistic and gold lacquer painting on this cabinet could be used as a basis for studying mural painting styles in the early period of Rattanakosin art. It is also an important historical evidence confirming the existence of communities in the Rayong River Basin from the Ayutthaya period down to the Rattanakosin period in late 18^th Century A.D.