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CHALERMCHAI KOSITPIPAT (THAI B. 1955) Thippayasathan Nai Chit (Heavenly Place in the Mind), 1996 crayon and pencil on paper 49 x 68 cm (19 1/4 x 26 3/4 in.) [sight] signed and dated lower right PROVENANCE Acquired by the present owner at BankThai's auction run by Christie's, Bangkok, 1998 The following drawing by one of the most celebrated contemporary Thai artists, Professor Chalermchai Kositpipat, is part of a small black-and-white series completed by Kositpipat in the mid-1990s. Kositpipat, who in 1982 designed the U.K.'s first-ever Buddhist temple Ð the Wat Buddhapadipa in Wimbledon, envisioned constructing a temple in his hometown of Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand. Thippayasathan Nai Chit, as the title indicates, was drawn from the artist's imagination, but the intricate and fantastical design of the temple soon manifested itself in the Wat Rong Khun complex, opened in 1997. The Chiang Rai "White Temple", as it is known to anglophones, is one of Thailand's biggest attractions. With its baroque bridges and buildings, Thippayasathan Nai Chit is both a unique document of the artist's thought process and a striking, standalone piece.