Kbach (Khmer: ក្បាច់) or Khmer ornamentation is made of traditional decorative elements of Cambodian architecture. While 'kbach' may refer to any sort of art-form style in the Khmer language, such as a gesture in Khmer classical dance, kbach rachana specifically refers to decorative ornament motifs. Kbach are also used in decorating of Cambodian silver crafts, furniture, regalia, murals, pottery, ceramics, stone carving, in a singular artistic expression: Etymology According to Chuon Nath's dictionary, kbach (ក្បាច់) used to be written kbache (ក្បាចេ) and is a derivative of kach (កាច់), to hit or break, with a bilabial infix which is a form of intensive morphology, suggesting to hit repeatedly. Kbach: ornamentation in Khmer decorative arts Historical development: a visual tradition From Indian influence to Khmer identity Not only are many decorative themes unique to Cambodia, but ornamentation motives as well are quite different from those found in India, though they can be related. The lintels chiselled with delicate reliefs, abutments excavated with foliage, pediments decorated with mythological scenes in high relief, without being specific to Cambodia, have a very special appearance which suggests that the traits of Hindu art found in the temples of Angkor owe more to religious influence than to school discipline. The Khmer artists radically modified what they had received and developed a new canon which rules would be respected through centuries. From wood to stone Art historians have considered that the sandstone sculptures replicated techniques pioneered from working in wood. Gilberte de Coral-Rémusat supposed that wooden models were the common ancestors of both Indian and Khmer decorative ornamentation. She believed that the particular sandstone employed by the Khmer was so easily manipulated that the adaptation from wood to stone decorative techniques was made with little impediment. During the Angkor period it is conceivable that artists used copy books, but because of their perishable nature none have survived to the present day. However, Henri Marchal believed that Cambodians were not accustomed to working according to texts and that the oral traditions were enough in the majority of the cases to be used as starting point. A marker of Khmer national identify Kbach, as other cultural elements of Cambodia, has recently become associated with the khmer predicament suggesting just how important it now is for the constitution of Khmer identity, so much so that, for the Khmer diaspora, "when touches of the authentic architecture and ornamentation of Cambodia are added