Unknown Artist
- Title
- Phan waen pah
- Alternative title:
- Two-tiered receptacle
- Place of origin
-
Thailand
- Period
- Rama III Period 1824 - 1851 → Thailand
- Year
- 1824-1851
- Media category
- Lacquerware
- Materials used
- black lacquer with mother-of-pearl inlay
- Dimensions
-
38.0 x 33.0cm
- Signature & date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased 1993
- Accession number
- 523.1993
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
The skill and dedication required to make fine lacquer objects such as this had a natural parallel in Buddhist devotions. For this reason the utensils, furniture and fittings that adorned the more important and wealthy Buddhist temples were usually flamboyant objects that glittered with subtle reflections of mother-of-pearl. Elaborate trays like this were used in Buddhist ceremonies by the monks, who would place their robes on the upper pedestal before an image of the Buddha. A classic and uniquely Thai form, this receptacle is decorated with seated 'thepanom' - minor Buddhist deities - and floral-inspired ornamental motifs that echo the Buddhist decorative style. Thailand is renowned for its distinctive 'hoi fai', or flaming mother-of-pearl, made from the shell of the turbo snail that is indigenous to the Gulf of Thailand.
Art Gallery Handbook, 1999. pg. 300.
- Bibliography (5)
-
'New Dimensions', by Jackie Menzies, pg. 54-63., Arts of Asia Nov 2003-Dec 2003, Nov 2003-Dec 2003, 61 (colour illus.). no.17
The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales 2003, 2003, 332 (colour illus.).
Bruce James (Australia) (Author), Edmund Capon (England; Australia, b.1940) (Director), Art Gallery of New South Wales handbook, Domain, 1999, 300 (colour illus.).
Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), The Art Gallery of New South Wales collections, Sydney, 1994, 183 (colour illus.).
Phiphitthaphanthasathān hæng Chāt (Thailand) (Author), Treasures from the National Museum, Bangkok, Bangkok, 1987, 118 (illus.). comparative piece
