When I met Laki in 2019 November at his hideout called Diyabubula, to discuss the publication of a book on the artwork used for the six 1979 Currency Notes, he mentioned that he had been commissioned to submit designs for the higher denomination Rs500 and Rs1000 notes and said his designs for these two notes were not used.
CBC issued notes with a Historical and Archaeological theme with a date of 1981-01-01. The sad reason I understand was an internal conflict. Those that had designed notes for CBSL objected to the entry of an outsider. Same issue is known for the design of Stamps for the Sri Lanka Philatelic Bureau.
In 2024 February Fabrizio Raponi (IBNS 11206-R) asked me about an essay (image on left below) he had got from the family of Derek Friday who worked at Bradbury Wilkinson from the 1950s until the 1980s. It had a bird and Flora in a portrait layout like that used in the Ceylon Flora & Fauna banknotes of 1979.
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| Click to see issued Rs500 back | Click to see issued Rs1000 back | |
I asked Michael Mayler who who is editing a book about Laki's paintings used for the 1979 Currency notes and he identified it with one of a pair of faded photographs(images on left) in C. Anjalendran's dossier on Laki Senanayke's paintings with No date or caption.
The essay on the left has a Ashy-headed Babbler, also called the
Ashy-headed Laughingthrush (Argya cinereifrons) is catching
what looks like a Lanternbug or Lanternfly (Pyrops maculatus),
which are common in Sinharaja.
It has a Dothalu palm (Loxococcus rupicola), an endemic genus
in the background. The bird is on a climber.
The painting on the right has a Green-billed Coucal (Centropus
chlororhynchos) is holding a Leaf Insect
(probably Pulchriphyllium agathyrsus) in its beak.
The tree in the foreground to the right with white leaves are Walu
keena (Calophyllum bracteatum), an Endemic species. The liana
with very dramatic undulating stem is Pus wel (Entada rheedii),
not endemic. The tree in the background to the left is a Thiniya dun
Shorea species, also endemic.
Both of the birds are endemic to Sri Lanka, but the insects are not. There do not appear to be any other identifiable endemic species in either of the images.
Fabrizio had already consigned the essay to Noonan's and it went on
Action on 2024 May 29th lot 307 with Noonan's using part of this
unique essay on the cover of the Auction catalog.
It had an estimate of £150-£200 and I was able to
win
it for £420+BP, to bring it back to Lakdiva.
All of the 1979 Flora and Fauna had a semi circular coral pattern on both left and right on the Portrait back. These patterns are also visible in some of the Rs50 and Rs100 paintings by Laki and identifies them with Laki's paintings for banknotes, and the two paintings, at least one of which was made into an essay by Derek Friday of Bradbury Wilkinson. Were they preliminary designs done for the Rs500 and Rs1000.
Derek Friday Collection of Bank Note Designs & Essays, and Specimen Bank Notes produced at Bradbury Wilkinson were sold by Special Auction Services (SAS) in Two Parts on 2023-Oct-23 and 2024-May-02. Searching through those illustrated listings, I did not find the painting in above right as an essay. If anyone identifies it please let me know. Thanks
The painting on the right was used on the front cover of the 1990
book Sinharaja, a rain forest in Sri Lanka by Neela de Zoysa
and Ryhana Raheem.
On 2024 July 31st, I serendipitously noticed that the lower part of
the portrait back of the Rs500
note
which was issued in 1981 as shown on left was almost the same as the
lower part of the Bradbury Wilkinson essay. So BW&Co had in fact used
part of Laki's painting on the Rs500 for which it was commissioned.
This was a truly amazing discovery of a Laki Painting on a currency
note.
Even Artist Laki did not know. It is unknown if Laki was paid in advance for the paintings by CBC or BW&Co. If Laki was acknowledged and informed of the use of his work, he would have known. This part of Rs500 design continued to be used beyond 1991. Laki would have used these currency notes in circulation in the 1980s how did he not notice that part of his painting had been used on the lower back of Rs500. So maybe like most, never looked beyond the Denomination on a note when using in circulation.
This discovery was reported in Sunday Times of Sri Lanka on 2024 August 4th (§2 p8) An unrecognised Laki painting on a Sri Lanka banknote
The 1981 Rs1000 note was issued with a peacock on the back which is not on any of Laki's paintings. However note that the peacock on the right has the same orientation, i.e. back view with head-turning right as the Green-billed Coucal on the right of Laki's painting.
I thank
Michael Meyler for locating the images from
C. Anjalendran's dossier on Laki Senanayke's paintings, and for
identifying the birds and insects on these essays, as given above.
I thank Botanist Neela De Zoysa author of the book on SinhaRaja
for the identity of the Flora.
If anyone owns or has an image of a Laki Senanayaka painting, used for one of the Sri Lanka 1979 Flora and Fauna Issue and not included in these webpages, please contribute digital image to kavanr @ gmail.com so that the painting is properly documented.