Page 150 - Bonhams Indian and Himalayan Art September 2013

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An illustrated Phra Malai manuscript
Thailand, 19th century
Watercolor and ink on paper with gilt
embossed thick paper covers; comprised of
forty-seven fold outs with Old Thai script
between twenty-six images.
Manuscript: 5 1/2 x 27 1/2 in. (14 x 69.2 cm);
Each image approx: 9 x 11 in. (22.9 x 28 cm)
$3,000 - 5,000
The story of the Buddhist saint, Phra Malai,
who travels to heaven and hell and shares
the insights he learned from Maitreya with
fellow monks and the laity, was thought to
have been imported from Sri Lanka around
the 13th century - about the same time that
Singhalese texts were consulted in creation of
the Sukhothai style. It became one of the most
popular subjects of 19th-century illuminated
Thai manuscripts, which were frequently
donated to monasteries as acts of merit. For
more information and related examples see
Ginsburg, Thai manuscript Painting, London,
1989. Compare also to a similar manuscript
held in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
(M.76.93.2) and a completely digitized version
in the British Library (OR 14838).
Provenance:
Private Collection, Los Angeles

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