1 Khrua in Khong

1 The Asian Modern © John Clark, 2013 Khrua In Khong (fl,1850s-1860s, possibly alive 1800s-1870s): I would like to record my great debts to Phaptawan Suwannakudt in understanding Thai temple murals and in accessing some of the Thai literature mentioned below. Notes & Chronological materials Precursor discourses, domestic There follows a list of some of the temples completed before Khrua in Kong’s emergence as a painter which he could have seen, and at some of which it is conceivable he worked as a trainee muralist monk. ‘Muang Boran’ (The Ancient City) is the name of the Bangkok publisher with a monograph on the temple in question, which is usually bilingual in Thai and English. Rama III (Phra Nangklao 1824-1851) and importantly brother of the future King Mongkut, Rama IV, was responsible for many temple patronage schemes, some of whose murals have decidedly Chinese elements such was Wat Suthat and Wat Rachaorot. The history of Khrua In Khong’s domestic precursors is mostly a feature of what was handed down from the preceding Ayutthaya era which came to an end in the Burmese sack of the former capital in 1767. Those craftsmen who survived the Burmese invasions or were not taken back to Burma as captives moved to Thonburi and then Bangkok, and many surviving temples or their construction schemes were moved down rive to Bangkok after the stabilization of Rama I. The temples of the reign of Rama III include: Bangkok, Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimonmangkhalaram (Wat Pho, Wat Photharam), (Muang Boran, 1994) restored and explanatory inscriptions added to Jataka scenes from ca 1835-45. Bangkok, Wat Suthat Theppawararam (Muang Boran, 1996) Ratchaburi, Wat Khongkaram, restored in Rama IV following Rama III models and Ayuttahaya predecessors (Muang Boran, 1994) Thonburi, Wat Bangyikhan (Muang Boran, 1987) Thonburi, Wat Chaiyathit (Muang Boran), Klong Bangkok Noi. Thonburi, Wat Daowaduengsaram (Muang Boran, 1987) Thonburi, Wat Kalyanimit (Klong Bangkok Yai) Thonburi, Wat Raja Orot (Klong Dan) Thonburi, Wat Suwannaram, by Khru Khongphae & Khru Thong Yu (Muang Boran, 1982, 1997, Muang Boran, 1987) Thonburi, Wat Thong Thammachat (Muang Boran, 1982) Siamese art worlds and court patronage Little is known directly about patronage. However, royal patrons were likely to have been determinative in assigning subject matters and in choosing master artists as heads of muralist teams, all of whom would have been ordained monks for the period of Khrua in Khong’s identifiable activity in the 1850s to 1860s. Thongpan, 1991, writing of the second half of the 19th century has recorded that When there were insufficient chang so Princes competed through wages to obtain their services. (Thongpan, 88) In Wat Khruawan there is a record of payment for work by area covered (Thongpan ,89) and that at Wat Pho specialists hired to paint important buildings who were more skilled than royal chang (Thongpan, 92) where the abbot was in charge of renovations. The court controlled a list of skilled monks (96), and 99 art was controlled to promote new ideas but not provocative ones. For example the Abbot of Wat Thong Noppakhun saw explicit nudes in a Jataka series such as bathing scenes in Vessantara Jataka and had them removed. (Thongpan, 99). 2 The Asian Modern © John Clark, 2013 One text, the Ratchalichanupeksaa, no.365 of Chulasakkarat 1249, Phuttasakaratm 2430 (1887) records that By royal command, in the matter of (the funeral of) Prince Thongtaemtawalayawong (Crown Prince Siriraj), seeking painters with ability to paint pictures of (scenes from) the Dynastic Chronicles of Ayutthaya to Bangkok, capital of Ratanakosin, we were able to obtain about 30 craftsmen who painted according to the narrative in set episodes to decorate the funeral mount on the oval of Sanaam Luang, there being total of 92 tableaux from the Chronicles. Let the officers examine the pictures by the painters, examine their skill in painting animals like animals, that (the skill of depicting) people is like people, examine that the houses are like houses, that shadows are the same as real ones, and that the actions of people and animals are real in detail. (Thongpan, 103) Known domestic precursor artists and their intellectual environment We may presume that Khrua In Khong’s skills had their origin in apprenticeship to precursor artists. Very little is known of the late 18th century after the foundation of Bangkok but there is Phra Acharn Nak, painter of murals of Wat Rakhang ca 1780s.(Muang Boran, 1987). Somewhat later in the reign of Rama III Khru Khongpae & Ajaan Thong Yu, were known painters of murals of Ten Previous Lives of the Buddha in ubosot of Wat Suwannaram ca. 1830s. (Muang Boran, 1987). They were most likely to have been alive during his earlier years and possibly his apprenticeship, but unfortunately there appear to be no identifiable stylistic links. Domestic discourses and their changes in meaning Large, full-body mirrors were first introduced (from China, presumably from Macao, via the Portuguese ambassador in 1818) during reign of Rama II and this starts to be discussed in contemporary literature, particularly the play Inao which is a compilation of translations from different Javanese stories. The result was that people started to see themselves realistically in a mirror and the previously tabooed images of the viewed person died away. Thai society reacted to importation of new technology typified by the introduction of mirrors in the reign of Rama II and steam-powered vessels in the reign of Rama III. The reception of this was future-oriented: there is a replica of a Chinese junk at Wat Yanawa which is believed to show the maritime technology which would be replaced by steam vessels. (Phanuphong & Chaiyot, p.50) Mirrors can make: 1. a picture or image of the self 2. a picture of an object with a left-right inversion from what the eyes can see. Glass krajok was divided into karajok siii (coloured or painted glass) used for decoration, and krajok ngaw(shadow glass) to mean mirror (Phanuphong & Chaiyot, p.57) In Thai culture there was no reference to a portrait of a real person in art. However, the widespread making of portraits began with sculpture in the reign of Rama II. Wat Arun has two portraits, one of a Mr Nok and another of a Mr. Rueng, followed by one of Sankharaja Suk in 1844. Also it seems the play Inao contains reference to a prince who sent out the royal portrait artists to paint the face of a princess in another kingdom). Photographic portraits later such as by Francis Chit were not popular. This is because when he took a photo of an upper male torso, this meant the man was cut in half. People then thought that photos of men meant they had their soul taken. (Phanuphong & Chaiyot 52) 3 The Asian Modern © John Clark, 2013 Wat Ratchaorot of late Rama II includes many compositions made with the aim of a mirror which allows an image to be symmetrically doubled, incuding the semblance of one-point perspective. There were two kinds of mirror views and their combination, particularly in trompe l’oeil images at Wat Rajaorot. Movement from idealized to real figures contemporary with increased commercialization and increase in trade with China. (Phanuphong & Chaiyot 70) The Self was seen by means of a mirror, and from early Rama III the time of Wat Suthat ordinary people appeared in art as individualized, a state that was previously true only for angels and deities. Even in typical Buddhist narratives the emphasis changed from the Vessadon Jataka within the Ten Major Jatakas (Tosachat) to Mahosot, a jakata known for attention to wisdom and wit which was focussed on a particular person. In it Mahosot followed a crow to identify where its nest was, but by looking at its shadow on the ground, not its shape in the sky. The artists were aware that real people have a shadow, others understood via the popular Thai metaphor of the moon seen in a pond of water: If the pond was drained the moon would disappear. Wat Suthat showed an increase in the area dedicated to Mahosot as against the preceding Wat Pho (Phanuphong & Chaiyot 80) Re-use of Buddhist ideas as allegorical denotation The Dharma Allegory: Paintings with inscription of the Phutasuphasit on six pairs of columns in the ubosot The paintings depicted and the painted backgrounds are keyed with different colour shadings to show the six categories of people’s minds. The colour varied from the darkest in the front to the lightest closest to the Buddha statues. The first five pairs of columns face each other, and the sixth pair faces the ubosot in the same direction with the same direction as the Buddha ie towards the East. Chalaphichat six dispositions 1.Kanhabhijati evil, sin –black 2.Nilabhijati justice-green 3.Lohitbhijati righteous, dhamma –red 4.Halodadabhijati purified, merit-making -yellow 5.Sukkabhijati more religious than laymen, sage –white 6. Paramasukkabhijati supreme Arhat – extremely white (Faay anurak…1990, 19) Examples of visual allegories at Wat Bownooniwet ubosot: Buddha is the horse rider, dharma is the trick of training horses (the horse whisperer), and the sangha community of monks is the herd of horses. (Faay anurak…1990, 32) Hospital is Buddhist Dharma: The doctor, one who dispenses medicine to cure diseases, like the Buddha (who is one brings wisdom) Faay anurak…1990, 33) Known foreign precursor discourses None are known of directly. However, Westerners certainly appear in surviving Thai murals of the early 1700s, (Wat Ko Kaeo Suttharam, 1734, Petchburi (Muang Boran, 1986)) as do representations of landscape elements derived from Chinese craftsmen painting (landscape elements behind Buddha figure, Wat Mai Chumphon, Nakhon Luang, Cangwat Ayutthaya, ca1675-1700).

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