Prayat Pongdam Carved & Gilt Board - Halibut with Citrus on a Dish, 1964
Prayat Pongdam (Thai, 1934-2014). Dish of Halibut with Citrus. Mixed media on masonite: carved relief board with gold leaf and pigment, 1964. Signed and dated at lower right. 1964 CE. A carved and gilt masonite panel by Prayat Pongdam, showing a halibut laid out on an oval platter with sliced citrus. The board is blackened and incised with hair-fine lines that pick out fins, scales, and the fanned rays of the tail in copper-toned pigment. A pale silvery crescent marks the rim of the dish. Gold leaf fills the fish's ringed eyes and a window cut into its belly, where smaller fish appear swallowed whole: a dinner within a dinner. Two gilt citrus rounds, incised with radiating segments, sit beside a dark sphere that is perhaps a whole fruit. A border framing the platter, rather like a tablecloth, combines gridded squares, stepped diamonds in terracotta and gold, and dotted bands. Signed "Prayat" and dated 1964 at lower right. Size: 28.5" L x 16.625" W (72.4 cm L x 42.2 cm W).
Prayat Pongdam was born on October 28, 1934, in Sing Buri, a rice-growing province on the central plains north of Bangkok. The countryside of his boyhood never left his work. As a child he spent his spare hours drawing animals, and that habit became a lifelong visual vocabulary. He trained at the Poh-Chang School of Arts and Crafts and then at Silpakorn University. There he studied under Silpa Bhirasri, the Florentine sculptor born Corrado Feroci, who founded modern art education in Thailand. Prayat earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting in 1957 and joined the faculty soon after.
An Italian government scholarship took him to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, which admitted him directly to the third year. He completed a diploma in decoration there in 1961 and won several painting prizes in Italy along the way. In 1963 the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence elected him Accademico Onorario in its engraving class. The honor came in the academy’s four-hundredth year, and it was a quiet compliment to his Florentine teacher.
Back at Silpakorn, Prayat was among the first Thai artists to present printmaking to the public as a fine art in its own right. His early prints were large and cut in linoleum, plywood, and masonite. They used little color, and many were entirely black and white. Animals and rural landscapes filled them, along with a strong sense of the sacred, the occult, magic, and astrology.
He later developed multicolor printing from single and multiple blocks with oil-based color, and his palette brightened. Buffalo, roosters, horses, cats, owls, and geckos became his principal actors. He set them against temples, villages, rice fields, and forest in the half-light of dawn or dusk. In certain prints he laid gold leaf on the paper before printing, so that a cat’s eyes or a scatter of stars glints out of the dark. The bond between mother and young, human and animal alike, recurs throughout.
Reviewing the 12th National Art Exhibition in 1961, Silpa Bhirasri praised his butting buffaloes and roosters for their bold execution, technical progress, and balanced design. The woodcut “Morning,” a rooster in full crow, shows the method at its purest: few elements, firmly placed, and enough voltage to rouse a village.
He began winning prizes at the National Art Exhibition in 1956. First prizes in printmaking followed in 1963 and 1981, and the second brought him the rank of Distinguished Artist. At Silpakorn he headed the printmaking department and became dean of the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts in 1980. He also led the project to establish the university’s art gallery, and in 1993 he published a textbook on cutting relief blocks for the woodcut. Outside the studio, he helped modernize Thai postage stamp design, sending Thai motifs abroad on envelopes bound for every corner of the world.
Royal commissions followed. He was one of six artists who illustrated Phra Maha Chanok, King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 1996 retelling of the Mahajanaka Jataka, a parable of perseverance. He designed the floor patterns and painted the ceiling of the new ordination hall at Wat Sothon Wararam Worawihan in Chachoengsao. Under the patronage of Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, he also painted the ordination hall murals of Wat Phra Ram 9 Kanchanaphisek together with Preecha Thaothong.
Prayat retired from the civil service in 1995 but kept teaching as a visiting professor. He was named National Artist in Visual Arts (Printmaking) in 1998 and received an honorary doctorate in printmaking from Silpakorn in 2000. He died at his home in Bangkok on September 19, 2014, at the age of 79, and his funeral rites were held under royal patronage. His prints still keep the hours he favored, just before the rooster and just after the owl.
Provenance: private Boulder, Colorado, USA collection by family descent; ex-James Gordon and Hazel Gordon Kaufman by descent from their father, Alexander Gerber, a New York industrialist active in the last quarter of the 20th century. New York, New York, USA.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).For those not using LiveAuctioneers' Live Ship program, Artemis Fine Arts offers expert in-house packing and worldwide shipping. With over 20 years of experience, our team provides careful, reliable, and affordable service. For a quick quote on this lot, please contact support@artemisfinearts.com prior to the auction, or call 720-890-7700.
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #205785
Condition
One metal staple on upper left edge. A few small chips to edges in areas, but, otherwise, intact and in very good overall condition. Signed and dated at lower right.
Prayat Pongdam (Thai, 1934-2014). Dish of Halibut with Citrus. Mixed media on masonite: carved relief board with gold leaf and pigment, 1964. Signed and dated at lower right. 1964 CE. A carved and gilt masonite panel by Prayat Pongdam, showing a halibut laid out on an oval platter with sliced citrus. The board is blackened and incised with hair-fine lines that pick out fins, scales, and the fanned rays of the tail in copper-toned pigment. A pale silvery crescent marks the rim of the dish. Gold leaf fills the fish's ringed eyes and a window cut into its belly, where smaller fish appear swallowed whole: a dinner within a dinner. Two gilt citrus rounds, incised with radiating segments, sit beside a dark sphere that is perhaps a whole fruit. A border framing the platter, rather like a tablecloth, combines gridded squares, stepped diamonds in terracotta and gold, and dotted bands. Signed "Prayat" and dated 1964 at lower right. Size: 28.5" L x 16.625" W (72.4 cm L x 42.2 cm W).
Prayat Pongdam was born on October 28, 1934, in Sing Buri, a rice-growing province on the central plains north of Bangkok. The countryside of his boyhood never left his work. As a child he spent his spare hours drawing animals, and that habit became a lifelong visual vocabulary. He trained at the Poh-Chang School of Arts and Crafts and then at Silpakorn University. There he studied under Silpa Bhirasri, the Florentine sculptor born Corrado Feroci, who founded modern art education in Thailand. Prayat earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting in 1957 and joined the faculty soon after.
An Italian government scholarship took him to the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, which admitted him directly to the third year. He completed a diploma in decoration there in 1961 and won several painting prizes in Italy along the way. In 1963 the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in Florence elected him Accademico Onorario in its engraving class. The honor came in the academy’s four-hundredth year, and it was a quiet compliment to his Florentine teacher.
Back at Silpakorn, Prayat was among the first Thai artists to present printmaking to the public as a fine art in its own right. His early prints were large and cut in linoleum, plywood, and masonite. They used little color, and many were entirely black and white. Animals and rural landscapes filled them, along with a strong sense of the sacred, the occult, magic, and astrology.
He later developed multicolor printing from single and multiple blocks with oil-based color, and his palette brightened. Buffalo, roosters, horses, cats, owls, and geckos became his principal actors. He set them against temples, villages, rice fields, and forest in the half-light of dawn or dusk. In certain prints he laid gold leaf on the paper before printing, so that a cat’s eyes or a scatter of stars glints out of the dark. The bond between mother and young, human and animal alike, recurs throughout.
Reviewing the 12th National Art Exhibition in 1961, Silpa Bhirasri praised his butting buffaloes and roosters for their bold execution, technical progress, and balanced design. The woodcut “Morning,” a rooster in full crow, shows the method at its purest: few elements, firmly placed, and enough voltage to rouse a village.
He began winning prizes at the National Art Exhibition in 1956. First prizes in printmaking followed in 1963 and 1981, and the second brought him the rank of Distinguished Artist. At Silpakorn he headed the printmaking department and became dean of the Faculty of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Arts in 1980. He also led the project to establish the university’s art gallery, and in 1993 he published a textbook on cutting relief blocks for the woodcut. Outside the studio, he helped modernize Thai postage stamp design, sending Thai motifs abroad on envelopes bound for every corner of the world.
Royal commissions followed. He was one of six artists who illustrated Phra Maha Chanok, King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 1996 retelling of the Mahajanaka Jataka, a parable of perseverance. He designed the floor patterns and painted the ceiling of the new ordination hall at Wat Sothon Wararam Worawihan in Chachoengsao. Under the patronage of Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, he also painted the ordination hall murals of Wat Phra Ram 9 Kanchanaphisek together with Preecha Thaothong.
Prayat retired from the civil service in 1995 but kept teaching as a visiting professor. He was named National Artist in Visual Arts (Printmaking) in 1998 and received an honorary doctorate in printmaking from Silpakorn in 2000. He died at his home in Bangkok on September 19, 2014, at the age of 79, and his funeral rites were held under royal patronage. His prints still keep the hours he favored, just before the rooster and just after the owl.
Provenance: private Boulder, Colorado, USA collection by family descent; ex-James Gordon and Hazel Gordon Kaufman by descent from their father, Alexander Gerber, a New York industrialist active in the last quarter of the 20th century. New York, New York, USA.
A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).For those not using LiveAuctioneers' Live Ship program, Artemis Fine Arts offers expert in-house packing and worldwide shipping. With over 20 years of experience, our team provides careful, reliable, and affordable service. For a quick quote on this lot, please contact support@artemisfinearts.com prior to the auction, or call 720-890-7700.
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #205785
Condition
One metal staple on upper left edge. A few small chips to edges in areas, but, otherwise, intact and in very good overall condition. Signed and dated at lower right.
