Preah Bot are portable paintings on canvas which represent either single episodes from the life of the Buddha or from the Jataka tales, in particular the last ten stories, the birth tales of the Buddha. In the past they were presented by lay people to the monasteries during religious festivals as a means of merit-making. They may then have served as a substitute for murals in wooden temple buildings where murals were not possible. Following the acclaim for Buddhist Painting in Cambodia, Vittorio Roveda and Sotham Yem have sought to document both their aesthetics and their meaning before the use of Preah Bot in a strictly religious sense has disappeared. Instead today they are being produced purely as souvenirs for tourists or for collectors. The book is also intended as an encouragement to the Cambodian People to preserve and study their important Buddhist heritage. AUTHORS: Vittorio Roveda is Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies and is one of the world's pre-eminent scholars on the Khmer civilisation. He is the author of many books and academic papers, including Khmer Mythology, Images of the Gods and Sacred Angkor. In 2002 his interest in the Buddhist mural paintings in monasteries grew and this culminated in the award-winning book Buddhist Painting of Cambodia. Sothon Yem was born in Cambodia and studied in Bangkok. He has been research assistant to Dr Roveda for 8 years. As well as acting as translator and conducting his own interviews and research with monks in Cambodia, Sothon has also translated many Khmer texts to English including a popular version of the Jataka Tales. SELLING POINTS: . These delightful, beautiful and sought-after paintings depict scenes from Buddha's life or the Jataka tales . With lavish illustrations throughout, the authors study both the religious meaning of the paintings as well as their artistic merit . Often tourist souvenirs, the best and older examples are highly sought-after by collectors 169 colour illustrations