OUT AND ABOUT…THAI BEAR

 

For the first time in over a week I left the house. Neither of us were feeling too energetic but our son took us to one of his and our daughter-in-law’s favorite restaurants for lunch, and dear other half was feeling quite good and eager. The bear was in front of a Thai restaurant we passed in slow moving traffic. We didn’t have lunch there but it made for a photo op.

I was curious about this interesting figure and looked it up by posting my photo on Google. It said it is a large-scale artistic bear dressed in traditional Thai Khon performance attire. The statue features several culturally significant elements. Here is a list of them.

“Khon Mask (Hua Khon): the bear is holding a miniature mask, which is the central characteristic of Khon, a classical Thai masked drama. These masks represent characters from the Ramakien, the Thai version of the Ramayana epic.

Traditional attire: the bear is adorned with “Chada” (a pointed crown) and elaborate glittering garments typical of Royal Thai performance costumes.

Artistic Interpretation: while the bear itself is not a traditional figure in the Ramakien, modern Thai artists often blend traditional motifs (like Benjarong overglaze painting styles) with contemporary forms to promote cultural heritage.  

This specific piece appears to be a modern cultural installation or a high-end collectible figurine designed to showcase “Thainess ” through a playful and creative lens.”

I had fun finding out about this figure. Google has a wealth of information. All I had to do was click on the little camera in the search engine line and load my photo up. I learned about this originally from Madsnapper. Thanks Sandra!

And thanks for stopping by. Enjoy your day!