ABSTRACT This paper aims to explain why the mid-thirteenth to mid-fifteenth century Sukhothai period has come to be regarded as Thailand’s artistic golden age and why art from this era has become symbolic of Thai nationalism. Past academic work has viewed the golden age narrative of Sukhothai art as a history ‘purely invented’ at the beginning of the nineteenth century by Thai nationalists. Adopting a material culture approach, this paper takes a different view and suggests that Sukhothai as the golden age is not ‘purely invented’ but ‘partially invented’ through historical conditions and memories embedded in the art objects. The paper proposes that there were three determining factors that helped promote Sukhothai art as the highest expression of Thainess. The first was the large-scale relocation of Buddha images from Sukhothai to Bangkok between 1794 and 1850, which inspired widespread social memories concerning these images. Secondly, the collection of legends from northern cities and the composition of new literature in this period led to a view of Sukhothai as an ideal Buddhist state. Last but not least, the distinctive art style of ancient Sukhothai artefacts contributed to the construction of a national narrative based on the new nationalist ideology.

中文翻译：

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作为泰国黄金时代的素可泰艺术的起源：佛像的搬迁、早期的 Ratanakosin 文学和民族主义

摘要 本文旨在解释为何 13 世纪中叶至 15 世纪中叶素可泰时期被视为泰国的艺术黄金时代，以及为何这个时代的艺术已成为泰国民族主义的象征。过去的学术工作将素可泰艺术的黄金时代叙事视为泰国民族主义者在 19 世纪初“纯粹发明”的历史。本文采用物质文化的方法，采取不同的观点，认为素可泰作为黄金时代并不是“纯粹发明”，而是通过历史条件和嵌入在艺术品中的记忆“部分发明”。该论文提出，有三个决定性因素有助于促进素可泰艺术成为泰国的最高表现形式。第一个是 1794 年至 1850 年间将佛像从素可泰大规模搬迁到曼谷，这激发了人们对这些图像的广泛社会记忆。其次，这一时期北方城市传说的收集和新文学的构成，使素可泰成为理想的佛教国家。最后但并非最不重要的是，古代素可泰文物的独特艺术风格有助于构建基于新民族主义意识形态的民族叙事。