Kbach
A Study of Khmer Ornament
Chan Vitharin
?Kbach? is the general term, used in the Khmer language, to name the variety of ornaments which decorate objects and architectural surfaces throughout Cambodia. Although Kbach have been studied by both scholars and artists, we have found that most of these studies primarily collect ornaments into pages of examples without presenting the thinking behind their creation and elaboration. In Cambodia today, students trying to learn Kbach tend to simply copy from these examples, replicating complex ornaments without understanding the system through which they are formed. Thus they generally do not have the ability to create new compositions of ornaments, or to use the existing ornamental language for their own purposes. Struck by this state of affairs, we began our research on kbach more than four years ago.

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