Antique Thai Temple Scroll Painting from 19th Century

An antique Thai temple scroll painting (phrabot), late 19th century, watercolour & pigments highlighted with gold leaf on cotton cloth, Rattanakosin school (1787-1910), 185 x 92 cm, Provenance, a private Melbourne collection, acquired from a Japanese collection, notes, the making of a phrabot had a deep religious motivation, imbedded in the concept of earning merit, a key element of the Buddhist faith. Through a phrabot, merit could be accumulated by sponsoring or donating it to a monastery, often during religious festivals. Most of the phrabot from earlier periods have been lost due to the fragility of the cloth and paint pigments, and the effects of a humid climate. The painting style of this phrabot is from the late Rattanakosin era (1787-1910), probably during the reigns of King Rama IV and V (1851-1910) which constituted the final classical period of the Rattanakosin school.