houses.
The Lacquer Pavilion in the garden was rescued from its dilapidated state in a monastery in the countryside and brought to Suan Pakkad Palace where it was restored by Princess Chumbhot in 1958.
Suan Pakkad Palace
Suan Pakkad, or 'Cabbage Garden Palace', was the property of Prince Chumbhot of Nagara Svarga, a grandson of King Chulalongkorn and the eldest son of Prince Paribatra of Nagara Svarga. The palace is located in the grounds of a former commercial vegetable garden, hence the unusual name.
The former princely residence began life in 1952 as a single reception pavilion. Over the years it was extended with the addition of six traditional houses from various locations in central Thailand connected on to the raised chan-ban verandah and walkways. Most of the buildings belonged to the Prince's great-great grandfather, who was one of the two Regents during the time of King Mongkut, or Rama IV, in the mid 19th century. The Prince and his wife were avid collectors of Thai artefacts and antiques: during the process of assembling the building, they decided to use it as a showcase for their collection and opened the palace to the public as a museum.
The highlight of the palace complex is the magnificent Lacquer Pavilion in the garden. Formerly located in the Ban Kling monastery between Ayutthaya and Bang Pa-in on the Chao Phraya River, it is believed that, prior to that, it was part of a royal residence in Ayutthaya. The pavilion was discovered by Princess Chumbhot in 1958 and moved to Bangkok, where it was restored to its present glory. In 1959 the prince gave the pavilion to the princess for her 50th birthday, then died of a heart attack later in the same year. Judging from the style of dress depicted in the murals, the pavilion is believed to date from the early 19th century, otherwise known as the Ayutthaya period.
The Lacquer Pavilion originally consisted of two separate buildings, but to save the buildings from dilapidation, the villagers of the town where it was located dismantled both buildings and rebuilt them to form a new building consisting of an inner chamber within an outer chamber. The inner walls are covered with gold-and-black lacquer painting, known as lai rod nom in Thai. This art flourished in the Ayutthaya and early Ratanakosin periods and was applied to manuscript cabinets, boxes, doors and other objects. Designs ranged from classical motifs to a variety of religious scenes. Here, the life of the Buddha along with secular scenes of daily life of that period are depicted.
Situated in the front house, an imposing temple busabok houses three Buddha images. The figure in the middle is a Hellenistic-influenced Gandhara style Buddha, from Pakistan. The other two figures are Thai. On the left, an altar holds a set of antique swords.
A palanquin is placed on top of a low table with lion's feet legs. The tiered umbrella is unfurled over the palanquin's occupant and is a symbol of royalty. To the left, an ornately tiered reliquary serves as a lamp and rests on top of a manuscript cabinet.
A late 18th-century Ratanakosin period cabinet displays an exquisite collection of gold nielloware, which was used only by nobility. On one side sits an antique dressing table, while on the other side and in the foreground, a gold lacquer ceremonial offering vessel sits atop two ornately carved altar tables.
The pavilion originally consisted of two separate buildings, a hor trai, or library for containing religious manuscripts, and a hor khien, a three-walled pavilion open on one side. The inner walls of both were covered with black-and-gold lacquer murals depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha, along with charming representations of secular daily life of those days. The outer walls were covered with elaborate wooden carvings of flowers and animals. Originally the hor trai consisted of an inner room containing bookcases surrounded by a verandah. It was raised on stilts and stood in a pond.
Due to the severe dilapidation of the hor khien, the villagers at Ban Kling monastery dismantled both buildings in order to create a new library, the present-day structure which consists of an inner chamber surrounded by a larger outer chamber. The interior walls are completely covered with lacquer depictions of the life of the Buddha. During this process, many of the original works of art were lost because panels were sawn off and the structure reassembled disregarding the chronology of the events depicted in the murals. Some of the panels were cut and parts lost, while some of the beautiful carvings became hidden within the building's structure, thus destroying any semblance of the original appearance of both hor trai and hor khien. By the time the pavilion was acquired by Prince and Princess Chumbhot the lacquer had deteriorated so badly that some of the panels were completely blank. It is entirely due to Princess Chumbhot's painstaking restoration that many of the exquisite works of art are now visible today.
On the verandah of the main house, gold-and-black lacquer manuscript cabinets depict scenes from the life of the Buddha and the Ramakien. In the foreground are mother-of-pearl offering vessels, used to present food at ceremonies.
A view of the exterior.
Beside the doorway stands a frame used for placing Buddha tablets, traditionally used in temples. A wood carving above the door depicts a stupa flanked by rows of theppanom deities in attitudes of worship.
The Bunnag Home
In the early 1960s Khun Tula Bunnag, then an official in the Royal Household Department, started to build a Thai-style house alongside a klong in what was then an idyllic rural area of Sukhumvit Road. Comprising four teak houses brought from Ayutthaya province which are now over 100 years old, the houses are arranged in a square connected by a wide, spacious chan-ban verandah. Another Thai house on the ground level was a later addition, built for one of the sons.
The Bunnag residence is significant as a rare example of a traditional building that is still lived in as the contemporary home of an aristocratic family. The family of Tula Bunnag are the direct descendants of Chao P'raya Suriyawongse Bunnag, an important figure in Thai history who was the formidable Regent of Siam during the minority of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V).
The upper rooms of the main house are used as bedrooms, and there is also one formal reception room with a Buddha room annex. A skylight opening cut in the middle of the chan-ban verandah allows sunlight to shine on to a fish pond in the open-air space used as the living and dining area beneath the chan-ban verandah.
In keeping with the classic Thai house layout, the open-air chan-ban verandah, lower living area and uncovered outdoor staircases tend to leave the residence exposed to nature's elements. This is wonderful when breezes circulate during hot days, but when a thunder storm breaks out, it is another matter. "People always ask me what we do when it rains," says Khun Tula's widow Khun Chancham, a writer noted for interpreting the English edition of M.R. Kukrit Pramoj's most famous novel, The Four Reigns. "And I always tell them, well everything gets wet, of course."
A house on ground level was a later addition as the family grew. The decorative panels beneath the windows were carved by Tula Bunnag.
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