
Dora Tan
Head of Sale, Specialist
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US$12,000 - US$16,000
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Head of Sale, Specialist

International Director
Employing an unforgiving, high-volume-pierce technique throughout the bowl's circumference, the silversmith draws out seven framed vignettes from the Ramayana, with vaulting monkey-soldiers depicted between each of them. The intent to visually transcribe a literary version of the Ramayana is evident. For didactic clarity, the artist includes—off-center and behind some visual barrier, such as a tree—characters whose actions drive a scene's plot but in which they do not actually participate. The artist also incorporates a common didactic feature in retellings of the Jataka Tales in Burmese silver by including onlookers, here cleverly positioned behind wavy bands that are required for the structural integrity of the openwork bowl but also hint at rolling hills in the background.
Published:
Owens, Burmese Silver Art, pp.84-5, no.S150, fig.3.69.