Throughout Southeast Asian, Buddhist wats (temples) are adorned with paintings of the Buddha's life, with most now executed directly on the upper concrete walls of the temples. In the early 20th century many wats featured the Buddhist paintings on what are known as preah bots, homespun cotton/canvas pieces. 

On our last sojourn in Cambodia we searched through hundreds of the preah bots for the finest specimens, most from temples and some from homes, and all dating from the early- to mid-20th century. These are huge, extraordinary antique and vintage hand-painted pieces. Some are relatively fragile, some have small tears or holes, and some have ragged edges (as depicted in these photos). But these are wonderfully dramatic pieces for any large spaces in homes or public buildings. They can either be hung by a horizontal rod or framed behind glass in a shadow box.