
Dora Tan
Head of Sale, Specialist
This auction has ended. View lot details


Sold for US$10,200 inc. premium
Our Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.
Find your local specialist
Head of Sale, Specialist

International Director
The preeminent silversmith Maung Shwe Yon had three sons—Maung Shwe Bin, Maung Thu Hlaing, and Maung Yin Maung—who were all very talented. Together with their father, they formed Maung Shwe Yon & Sons based in Rangoon (Yangon), and around the time of his death in c.1889 they changed the company name to Mg Shwe Yon Bros. By the time the present bowl was made in 1899, the company was a top-tier vendor, employing other exceptional goldsmiths and silversmiths.
This exquisite bowl exemplifies the superior quality of the Mg Shwe Yon Bros enterprise. Three scenes from the Ramayana depicted with high-relief repoussé figures within a detailed forest setting are filled with dramatic interactions and movement. In the first, the stag being hunted by Rama barrels through the thicket, seemingly about to crash into Sita bracing herself. In the second (moving counterclockwise), Rama subdues the ogress Maricha by grabbing and contorting the very deer horns she manifested to lure him away from Sita. In the third, a counterpoised entourage behind Ravana includes one of his kin seemingly trying to pull him from the climactic battle with Rama that leads to the ogre-king's demise. The three scenes are divided by gnarled trees integrated seamlessly into the landscaped background, which is rendered with various masterful chasing techniques.
Published:
Owens, Burmese Silver Art, p.60, no.S119, fig.3.30.