In 1930 Hem was selected as one of the artists to renovate the murals in Wat Phra Kaew (the Emerald Buddha temple) during Bangkok’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
There is a tradition that Nagasena brought to Thailand the first representation of the Buddha, the Emerald Buddha.
Emerald Buddha, the figurine to which the preceding temples' names refer
Buddha | Gautama Buddha | Emerald | Emerald, Victoria | Glittering-bellied Emerald | Emerald Twilight | Common Emerald | Sapphire-spangled Emerald | Emerald Toucanet | Emerald, Queensland | Emerald City | Marti Emerald | Duke of Devonshire Emerald | Common Emerald Dove | Emerald Buddha | Caro Emerald | The Shocking Miss Emerald | In the Name of Buddha | HMS ''Emerald'' | Emerald Township, Faribault County, Minnesota | Emerald Township | Emerald Tablet | Emerald Downs | Emerald City (magazine) | Emerald ash borer | emerald | Common Emerald ''(Hemithea aestivaria)'' | Buddha relics from Kanishka's stupa | 2008 Emerald Bowl | Versicoloured Emerald |
According to this legend, the Emerald Buddha would have been created in India in 43 BCE by Nagasena in the city of Pataliputra (today Patna).
Continuing with the legend of the saint Nagasena of India, after remaining in Pataliputra (present day Patna) for three hundred years, the Emerald Buddha image was taken to Sri Lanka to save it from a civil war.
The earliest legend narrated to the iconic emerald image of the Buddha is that of Nagasena, a saint in India who with the help of Hindu god, Vishnu and demigod Indra had the Emerald Buddha image made, 500 years after Buddha attained Nirvana, from the precious stone of Emerald.
Considering the long history and Nagasena's (a Brahmin who became a Buddhist sage and lived about 150 BC) prophesy that the Emerald Buddha would bring "prosperity and pre-eminence to each country in which it resides", the Emerald Buddha deified in the Wat Phra Kaew is deeply revered and venerated in Thailand as the protector of the country.
Chao Phya Chakri (Chakri is a title) a renowned army general and associate of Taksin, in 1778, defeated the Vientiane and shifted the Emerald Buddha from Vientiane to Thonburi where it remained till Taksin's death.