Wat perspective

Wat Suwannaram in Bangkok is in the style of the Ayuttayah period (1361-1767), but has been restored twice, during the reign of Rama I (1782-1809), and again during the reign of Rama v (1853-1910).

On the inside walls is one of the finest remaining collections of Thai classic style murals. When looking at these murals one should understand the following about Thai Mural Style and Characteristics.

Thai murals have the following characteristics. They contain many small, almost tiny individual scenes, landscapes and figures in contrast to the large wall space on which they are painted. The objects are stylized throughout Thailand and are two dimensional in form, that is there is no perspective of dimension as in European painting. There are also continuous and flowing sets of panoramas of places, palaces, towns, events and country landscapes with real and mythical people or creatures.

However all panoramas whether painted above the head of the viewer, at the same level or nearer the floor, all are painted from a perspective that the viewer is high above, as if in the sky looking down or from a distance.

The episodes of religious and every day life are reflections from different times but are depicted simultaneously separated by landscape or architecture like a zig zag design. The characters are stylized such that the celestial and or noble beings are always portrayed serene whilst those from the common folk are portrayed in ungainly or realistic or comic postures or movements.
After the mid C19th Western influences introduced the concept of the use of perspective and shading to give the illusion of depth.

Wat Suwannaram translates as Golden Monastery, but strangely in a land where the use of gold is rarely spared, there does not appear to be much over use of it here.

From Thailand's World.