Scientists Restoring Royal Chariot with Synchrotron Light Technology

          Scientists of Synchrotron Light Research Institute (Public Organization), SLRI, and Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation participated in the restoration of the Royal Chariot which was used in the royal funeral procession or the corpse of the Royal Family, using synchrotron light technology to decipher the formula of the ancient kriab glass and reproduce it to deliver it to Ten Essential Traditional Craftsmanship to renovate and repair before being displayed at the National Museum, Bangkok.

          Mrs. Yunee Teeranun, head of the group of gilding and glass decorating technicians and Thai art technicians of Ten Essential Traditional Craftsmanship, Fine Arts Department, stated that “Ten Essential Traditional Craftsmanship is assigned to take care and repair the Royal Chariot นช.539 which is displayed at Bangkok National Museum. And as the time passed by, the Royal Chariot was worn out and the art material that decorated the chariot was gone. Therefore, it needs restoration in order to make the structure strong and the missing pattern will be filled again.”

          “However, the glass that is sold in the market has very bright color and it is produced to be used with epoxy glue only. When we restore or repair the artifact in a correct way, we need to choose the original material like Sa-Muk which is the way of using gum tree, coconut shell powder, and burnt banana leaves that are mixed and stirred until it gets sticky, to be used as glue for bonding glass and work piece together. The current glass cannot be used with Sa-Muk and it has different thickness and thinness from the original glass.”

          “Therefore, Ten Essential Traditional Craftsmanship has requested SLRI to produce glass that is similar in color and thickness to the original glass on the Royal Chariot. And when we use the produced glass with Sa-Muk, it works well together. After we complete the restoration, we will put on to display at Bangkok National Museum.” - Mrs. Yunee Teeranun.

          Dr. Wantana Klysubun, Assistant Director for Academic and Research Affairs, SLRI, said, “This work is an extension of research on the study of kriab glass from Wat Phra Sri Rattana Satsadaram (Wat Phra Kaew), which was conducted for many years at that time until it was successful in gaining knowledge and the formula of the glass which can help produce the ancient glass in four colors. That is the reason why we got contacted from Ten Essential Traditional Craftsmanship that they have the project of restoring the Royal Chariot. And it is a conservation restoration which means they will not remove cracked glass. They will preserve the old ones; however, the missing ones will be replaced with newly produced glass that has the same color and thinness compared to the original ones. The newly produced glass can be used and endure with gum tree which is a natural glue that is the ancient technique which is used with wood. The glass that SLRI produced has got all the characteristics. We can adjust the color, come up with new glass formula; that is why we got this assignment. We had been working on it for around one year to adjust the color of the glass formula since the green and blue color of the Royal Chariot are slightly different from crystal glass from Wat Phra Sri Rattana Satsadaram (Wat Phra Kaew). Therefore, the colors are adjusted in order to create the new ones to be similar to the original ones, as you can see.”

          “SLRI is solely responsible for producing glass. There are many colors that were delivered to us. There are green jewel beetle color that is slightly bluish and off-white-yellow. We created a new specific formula which has blue, red, and orange. For the red-orange color, it is very interesting. Because the technician said it was white glass before. But after the restoration, another color was found hidden under the white glass. They sent it to us so we could see that it was reddish orange. This red-orange color is very challenging. Since it is not the color found at Wat Phra Kaew. It is a new ancient color which we have never studied before. Therefore, we expand the knowledge on the ancient red color and antique yellow by mixing them together, thus, this new glass color can be produced. And then we send to the Ten Essential Traditional Craftsmanship to use.

          “Using Synchrotron is like starting closer to the goal. It acts as a shortcut, allowing us to achieve results faster. Because if we needed to begin from the basic formula, it would be so difficult, especially ancient glass formulas. The color composition is very complex. It is not just only one element which can create the color; however, it takes 2 – 3 elements. Thus, we need to adjust to build the balance to create the color’s uniqueness for the ancient fine art. Notwithstanding, the expansion to the level of pilot plant requires the collaboration with private sectors who are interested in further developing the possibility of commercial production.” Dr. Wantana Klysubun concluded.