Information sheet N0. A-0874 (I) 14th April 1999

[OKKAR66129]

Myanmar Information Committee Yangon
Information sheet N0. A-0874 (I) 14th April 1999
This office is presenting an article entitled "A 12th Century Cloth Painting
From Ancient Bagan" written by Dr. Khin Maung Nyunt for your reading pleasure.
On 31st March in 1984, a very rare objet' d'art of antiquity was discovered by
chance in the ancient city of Bagan, Upper Myanmar. A team of archaeologists
was undertaking field work for the inventory of pagodas and monuments in the
archaeological zone of 16 square miles. When they came upon temple No. 315,
they saw a big statue of the Buddha in it. It was made of brick and plaster and
one of its hands was broken. One of the labourers who cleared the debris saw
something rolled up inside the hollow of the remaining portion of the hand. He
instantly pulled it out. In doing so the rolled up piece was shattered into
fragments. It was a cloth painting of the Bagan period. The fragments were
carefully picked up and kept for display in a glass show case at the
Archaeological Site Museum, Bagan. On examination by experts the painting was
datable-- 12th century A.D.
In 1986 while the ICCROM (International Centre for Conservation of Arts, Rome
) mission was carrying out conservation of mural paintings in Bagan, the
mission members saw the fragments in the show case and Mr. Pierre Pichard,
Coordinator of the UNESCO/ UNDP Project for Bagan proposed that the fragments
be sent to a specially equipped laboratory in Rome for restoration. In July
1986 the proposal was accepted by the Myanmar authorities. The fragments were
carefully packed and handcarried to the Italian Capital, on 30th August, 1986
by Mr. Pierre Pichard and delivered to the Myanmar Embassy. A UNESCO contract
for the restoration of the fragments was concluded with Mr. Carlo Giantomassi
who a member of the ICCROM team for the restoration of mural paintings in
Bagan. Then the restoration work was begun by expert art restorers at the
specially equipped laboratory of ICCROM at No.13, San Miche Street , Rome. It
took a year and two months (October 1986 to December 1987 ) to complete the
restoration.
The restorers' report gives very interesting data about the painting. The
painting was executed on a piece of fine cotton cloth with "a fairly tight
perpendicular weave". The cloth measures about 81.5 cm wide from selvage to
selvage, and about 138 cm long. Two larger folded bands were sewn to the upper
and lower borders of the cloth with cotton thread.
The area of the cloth painted was prepared front and back with a thin layer of
probably gypsum or light clay, whitish in colour. On closer examination, traces
of a preparatory drawing are seen. They are the outlines of the buildings and
forms. They are not details but only sketches. A black pigment was used in
sketching. The pigments used were natural products from orpiment, realgar,
cinnabar, vegetable lacquer, carbon black, yellow ochre, red ochre, copper
green and blue. In spite of its old age ( nearly 800 years) and the onslaught
of elements, insects and fungus, the colours are still lively and luminous.
The painting is a composition of "five registers of superimposed scenes,
separated 'by decorative strips and calligraphy. A continous decoration frames
the work on the sides." The Painting presents an exclusively frontal view with
no perspective. Details of the figures and objects, such as the outlines of the
figures, their facial expressions, the drapes and folds of the clothing, their
body ornaments, the leaves, flowers and fruits of the trees are indicated with
fine incised lines.
Why this scroll of cloth painting of the 12th century was left enshrined
inside the hollow of the hand of the Buddha statue for nearly 8 centuries is
a mystery which no archaeologist nor historian so far has been able to solve.
Conjectures have been put forward. Experts on ancient painting of Bagan say
that there are two types of mural paintings in Bagan, fresco and tempera.
Fresco is the method of painting pictures on plaster on a wall or ceiling
especially before the plaster is dry. Tempera is the method of painting
pictures on a piece of cloth and the painted cloth is glued on the wall or
ceiling of a building. It is presumed that the artist kept his rolled up
tempera inside the hollow of the hand of the Buddha statue whose hand was not
yet finished. Then before he had time to glue his cloth painting on the wall
of the temple, the mason unknowingly must have completed the hand of the
statue. Thus the rolled up tempera remained enshrined for the last eight
centuries. Another theory is that the artist himself or the donor purposely
enshrined the cloth painting inside the Buddha statue for attaining religious
merit. Usually sacred relics and votive objects are found enshrined in the
relic chambers deep down under the monument or in the centre of the body of the
statue. But the great earthquake of 1975 revealed relics and votive objects
enshrined in different sections of monuments, pagodas and statues. Another
surmise is that it is an unaccomplished act of vandalism. Some robbers must
have detached the cloth painting from the wall of the temple and rolled it up
and stored it in the hollow of the statue's hand. Then they had to escape with
other more valuable treasures leaving the painting.
Whatever the conjectures and surmises, we are lucky to have discovered this
rare cloth painting of antiquity by chance and we are very grateful to the
UNESCO / UNDP and the art restorers of the ICCROM for the restoring and
conserving of this piece of Myanmar cultural heritage and bringing it back to
the country of its origin.
In August 1988 the restored cloth painting was brought back to its homeland.
It was handcarried by one of its restorers Donatella Zari throughout the flight
from Rome to Yangon. From that date to early 1998 this art treasure was kept in
the air-conditioned cabinet of the library of the Archaeology department,
Yangon.
After the opening of a new grand Museum Building in Bagan on 17 April 1998,
the cloth painting was moved there. It is now on display, inspiring national
pride of the Myanmar people and receiving admiration and marvel of the
visitors.

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