Research & Article

The murals in the Lacquer Pavilion at Suan Pakkad in Bangkok depict scenes from the life of the Buddha and from the Ramakien. This article argues that they were originally painted during the reign of King Rama I (1782-1809) on grounds of their subject matter and their similarity to scenes from the Buddhaisawan Chapel. Murals in late Ayutthaya generally depicted scenes from Jataka tales, and only from the First Reign did abbots and artists focus on the life of the Buddha. The section of the Ramakien illustrated in these murals appears only in the version of the Ramakien composed in the First Reign.