Textbook on curing small-pox, fever, cold, and red eyes, from the Thai Folding Manuscripts collection
ca. 19th century CE, Kingdom of Siam (present-day Thailand)
Ink on khoi paper
This object exemplifies the samut khoi, a type of paper-folding manuscript of nineteenth-century Thai/Siamese tradition. Displayed here is one of three such objects in the SCRC’s collection, a medical divination manual that provides instructions for curing diseases. In traditional Thai medicine, the time of year and the geographic location of the patient were essential for a diagnosis. The varying sets of limbs and held objects in the illustrations of human-like figures indicate the month, while the marks on their bodies signify the severity of a patient’s ailment, disease, or malignancy.
Ha Tran
