Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Treatise on Elephants
This manuscript is one of a group of manuscripts created during the first years of the Bangkok dynasty illustrating a traditional court treatise describing elephants. An official at the Thai court was responsible for the Department of Elephants, which maintained royal elephants, mostly albinos, as well as commissioning treatises.
The treatise opens with a series of divine elephants with characteristics based largely on Hindu mythology (fols. 3-8). The next portion of the manuscript (fols. 9-52) depicts a profuse variety of natural elephants, shown on plain backgrounds or in forest settings displaying two elephants in profile on the upper half with text in the lower. The rest is unfinished but appears to follow the same layout. The text, yellow Thai script on red ground, describes these elephants according to an elaborate typology related to Indian manuscripts on elephants.
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Peng Seng, Bangkok; Doris Duke Charitable Foundation's Southeast Asian Art Collection, February 16 1963; given to Walters Art Museum, 2002.
Exhibitions
| 2024-2025 | If Books Could Kill. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 2009 | The Saint John's Bible: A Modern Vision through Medieval Methods. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
Geographies
Thailand (Place of Origin)
Measurements
Closed manuscript: H: 4 15/16 x L: 14 3/8 x D: 2 3/8 in. (12.2 x 36.5 x 6.1 cm)
Credit Line
Gift from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation's Southeast Asian Art Collection, 2002
Location in Museum
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
W.893