Vessantara gives away the chariot, a scene from the next-to-last life of the Buddha (Vessantara Jataka)
Matted: H. 28 in × W. 22 1/16 in (71.1 cm × 56 cm)
Complete sets of the standard thirteen paintings for the recitation of the story of Prince Vessantara are extremely rare. Once a set of paintings was used in a recitation it might not have been used again, and no particular provision may have been made to preserve it. The number of single paintings or small groups of paintings surviving from sets suggests that sets were often broken up and dispersed.
This set [2006.27.80.1-.13] probably about 120 years old, remains in fair condition. Most details of the paintings, though scratched and abraded, can still be made out, but the inscriptions along the bottom edges have suffered considerable damage and are now only partly legible.
Just as the recitation of the "Great Life" was sometimes accompanied by sound effects and naughty side-stories, in this set of paintings the artist enlivens the main story with bawdy vignettes, monkeyshines, and amusing anachronisms. The artist's interest in some aspects of classical Western landscape painting is also apparent.
[2006.27.80.3] Chapter 3
The prince accepts his banishment but before setting out makes a "Great Seven-Hundred-Fold Donation" of cows, horses, slaves, carriages, and so on. He urges his wife not to accompany him into exile, but she insists that she will not leave him. As they and their children travel along in a chariot Vessantara is asked first for the chariot horses and then for the chariot, all of which he readily relinquishes. The family continues on foot.
After Vessantara gave away the horses, celestial beings descended and took the form of golden deer to pull the chariot. Here Vessantara has been asked for the chariot itself and gives it with the same gesture as in the previous painting. In the sky waves the white elephant flag of Siam, adopted in 1855.
