Thai Folk Art Bodhi Tree Painting with Golden Foil, "Shimmering Golden Bodhi"

Golden moonlight gilds the spreading branches of a pipal tree, a variety of fig that grows in India and is considered sacred. Buddha achieved enlightenment while meditating beneath such a tree, which then became known as a bodhi, or "enlightened" tree. Some of these trees in Thailand are said to derive from cuttings of the original bodhi. Saisunee's reverent painting receives applications of metallic foil for contrast.