Material: Cloth
Style: Burma
Size: Length 134.5 cm, Width 133 cm
Order Number: MHSABAC1

19th – early 20th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Altar Cloth appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Rattan
Style: Burma
Size: Height 8 cm, Length 19 cm, Width 9.5 cm
Order Number: MHSBAST6

About 70-80 years.

Please ask the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Basket 1 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Rattan
Style: Burma
Size: Height 9 cm, Length 15.5 cm, Width 7 cm
Order Number: MHSBAST7

About 70-80 years.

Please ask the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Basket 2 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Rattan
Style: Burma
Size: Height 7.5 cm, Length 13 cm, Width 6.5 cm
Order Number: MHSBAST8

About 70-80 years.

Please ask the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Basket 3 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Rattan, metal handles, wood, lacquer
Style: Inle Lake, Shan State, Burma
Size: Height 35 cm, Diameter 45 cm
Order Number: MHSABBL4

The body is very fine and delicate basketry in a fancy diamond pattern called kyudayan gwet in Burmese.  The rim and foot are lacquered black. Although rare today, juxtaposing smooth lacquered surfaces with bare basketry is an old Burmese decorative technique. It was popular for large bamboo matting for the walls of houses.

After the First Anglo-Burmese War (1823–1826), Major Henry Burney was stationed at Ava as the British Resident of the East India Company at the Burmese Court of King Bagyidaw from 1829 to 1837. In May 1832 he wrote an essay ‘Some Account of the Lacquered or Japanned Ware of Ava’ in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. He considered Shan boxes superior to those made in Bagan.

There is a similar example of basketry in Burma and the Art of Lacquer, Ralph Isaacs and T. Richard Blurton, River Books, 2000, page 208.

Early – mid 20th century.

Please ask the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Basket 4 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Bronze
Style: Burma
Size: Height 11cm, Diameter 7 cm
Order Number: MHSABB1

This cast bronze bell has a magnificent patina. People presented bronze bells to a temple, pagoda or monastery as means of getting merit – it was second only to presenting a Buddha image.

Bells like this  were cast using the lost wax method (cire perdue) . Rituals were performed to ensure proper blessings. Usually the bells were cast from an alloy mainly of copper with some tin and occasionally a small amount of lead.

The bell has a clapper. There are several rows of engraved concentric circles. The bell is in excellent condition.

19th century or earlier.

There is one of similar shape (though that is silver) in Burmese Crafts Past and Present, Sylvia Fraser-Lu, Oxford University Press, 1994, page 134.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Bell appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Silver
Style: Burma (Myanmar)
Size: Height 5 cm, Diameter 5 cm
Order Number: MHSALBB6

70-80 years

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Betel Box 1 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Silver
Style: Burma (Myanmar)
Size: Height 5.5 cm, Diameter 7cm
Order Number: MHSALBB7

70-80 years

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Betel Box 2 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Iron
Style: Burma
Size: Height 4.5 cm (closed), Length 14
Order Number: MHSABBC1

The areca nut is one of the ingredients of the betel quid. The basic ingredients are betel leaf, areca nut and lime powder. Gambir and tobacco may be added  to make it more fragrant. The hard nut is sliced into small pieces with a hinged cutter (caket). It is used like a small guillotine or a single bladed pair of scissors – with a vertical movement. There are 2 arms, one with an iron blade, and the other with a flat surface against which the blade falls. The rest may be brass or another kind of metal.

There are 2 examples of cutters in Anuradhapura, the old capital of Sri Lanka, which was destroyed in 993 AD by the Cholas. The earliest written reference is in the Indian  Basayapurana of Bhima-Khavi of 1369.

They were prestige implements, like the rest of the betel set, and commissioned by aristocrats and rich merchants. There are a multiplicity of designs.  Brass and iron require different techniques and craftsmen. Being small, they travelled all over the region. Most are very elegant.

By the 12th century Indian metalworkers were in Bali and Java and impressive craftsmanship was applied to the cutters. In Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia cutters are made of iron, which may be decorated with other metals.

There are animal motifs – usually horses, peacocks and dragons in iron, with incised mounts, sometimes in gold and silver.  They typically have fins and crests with incised designs, inlaid with silver, gold or brass. The horse was probably introduced by Chinese metalworkers during the Bronze Age. The arched heads are similar to T’ang horses.

There are also stags and mythological animals. Mythical dragon birds are peculiar to Thailand. In Southeast Asia there are wayang figures from the puppet theatre, such as Arjuna and the comic Wak Long. Bali has birds and realistic roosters. In India and Sri Lanka there are parrot heads with gold mounts set with rubies. Some are abstract designs.

19th century – early 20th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Betel Cutter appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Iron, inlaid with silver and brass wire
Style: Upper Burma
Size: Height 4 cm (closed), Length 16 cm
Order Number: MHSABBC2

The areca nut is one of the ingredients of the betel quid. The basic ingredients are betel leaf, areca nut and lime powder. Gambir and tobacco may be added  to make it more fragrant. The hard nut is sliced into small pieces with a hinged cutter (caket). It is used like a small guillotine or a single bladed pair of scissors – with a vertical movement. There are 2 arms, one with an iron blade, and the other with a flat surface against which the blade falls. The rest may be brass or another kind of metal.

They were prestige implements, like the rest of the betel set, and commissioned by aristocrats and rich merchants. There are a multiplicity of designs.  Brass and iron require different techniques and craftsmen. Being small, they travelled all over the region. Most are very elegant.

This cutter is inlaid with both silver and brass wire, on both sides of the body. According to Fraser-Lu (1994),  Min-dan village in Yamethin district, just south of Mandalay in Upper Burma, specialised in decorating betel nut cutters with inlaid silver designs.

The blades were first forged from rod iron bought nearby Pyaw-bwe, and the area to be decorated was then scored with marks made y a chisel.

Using tweezers, strands of silver wire were carefully placed in position before being hammered into the iron. The cutter was gently heated and lightly hammered to bond the silver into the iron.

Further working with a cold chisel removed any roughness and brought the fine details into relief.

The origin of this kind of work may be about the middle of the 18th century.

Such cutters were exported to India via Madras and were often wrongly thought to have been made in Madras and became known as Madras cutters.

Min-dan village was visited by E. N. Bell in 1907, who wrote:

“Another artistic development has its home in Minden Village, Yamethin District, where every household depends more or less on its smithy, though there are only a few professors of the particular art to be described, which consists of an inlay of silver wire upon an iron surface. 

The usual articles produced are ornamental dalwes or da-hmyaungs, scissors. katkyi, betel-cutters, kun-hnyat, hair-tweezers, hmwe-hnyat specimens of which are figured.

This industry is said to have had its origin five generations before Saya, whose son Saya Pyo, the chief local artist, turned out the articles shown in the illustrations.”

E.N. Bell I.C.S.; A Monograph on Iron and Steel Work in Burma.  
Rangoon, Superintendent, Government Printing Burma, 1907.

The design is a fanciful bird with spread wings and an extended tail.

Early 20th century.

Min-dan cutters are described in Burmese Crafts: Past and Present, Sylvia Fraser-Lu, Oxford University Press, 1994, p. 148. There is a similar example in Betel Cutters, From the Samuel Eilenberg Collection, Henry Brownrigg, Thames and Hudson, 1992 on page 94.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Betel Cutter 2 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Iron
Style: Burma
Size: Height 5 cm (closed), Length 16.5 cm
Order Number: MHSABBCU3

The areca nut is one of the ingredients of the betel quid. The basic ingredients are betel leaf, areca nut and lime powder. Gambir and tobacco may be added  to make it more fragrant. The hard nut is sliced into small pieces with a hinged cutter (caket). It is used like a small guillotine or a single bladed pair of scissors – with a vertical movement. There are 2 arms, one with an iron blade, and the other with a flat surface against which the blade falls. The rest may be brass or another kind of metal.

They were prestige implements, like the rest of the betel set, and commissioned by aristocrats and rich merchants. There are a multiplicity of designs.  Brass and iron require different techniques and craftsmen. Being small, they travelled all over the region. Most are very elegant.

Early 20th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Betel Cutter 3 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Iron
Style: Burma
Size: Height 4 cm (closed), Length 17.5 cm
Order Number: MHSABBCU4

The areca nut is one of the ingredients of the betel quid. The basic ingredients are betel leaf, areca nut and lime powder. Gambir and tobacco may be added  to make it more fragrant. The hard nut is sliced into small pieces with a hinged cutter (caket). It is used like a small guillotine or a single bladed pair of scissors – with a vertical movement. There are 2 arms, one with an iron blade, and the other with a flat surface against which the blade falls. The rest may be brass or another kind of metal.

They were prestige implements, like the rest of the betel set, and commissioned by aristocrats and rich merchants. There are a multiplicity of designs.  Brass and iron require different techniques and craftsmen. Being small, they travelled all over the region. Most are very elegant.

Early 20th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Betel Cutter 4 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Brass
Style: Burma
Size: Height 11 cm, Width 15 cm, Diameter 12 cm
Order Number: MHSABBB3

The Burmese traditionally excelled at bronze and brass casting. They made boxes, religious images, bells, musical instruments and household items.

Blacksmithing has traditionally been an honoured occupation associated with courage, strength and integrity.

This box is hinged. It was used as a betel box. The small lime container in the tray still has traces of lime.

Early – mid 20th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Brass Betel Box appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Bronze
Style: Burma
Size: Height 13 cm, Width 13.5 cm, Diameter 9.5 cm
Order Number: MHSABBBB1

The Burmese traditionally excelled at bronze and brass casting. They made boxes, religious images, bells, musical instruments and household items.

Blacksmithing has traditionally been an honoured occupation associated with courage, strength and integrity.

This box is hinged. It may have been used for storage of valuables but most probably it served as a betel box.

Early – mid 20th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Bronze Box 1 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Bronze
Style: Burma
Size: Height 13 cm, Width 21 cm, Diameter 12 cm
Order Number: MHSABBB2

The Burmese traditionally excelled at bronze and brass casting. They made boxes, religious images, bells, musical instruments and household items.

Blacksmithing has traditionally been an honoured occupation associated with courage, strength and integrity.

This box is hinged. It may have been used for storage of valuables but most probably it served as a betel box.

Early – mid 20th century.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Bronze Box 2 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Wood, lacquer
Style: Burma
Size: Height 47 cm, Diameter 30 cm
Order Number: MHSABC1

Cooking oil was stored in large, square, heavily lacquered woven containers called hsi-o. It has a square base for sturdiness and small lugs through which string may be threaded so that it can be carried on a pole. It has a detachable lid.

It seems that the art of making lacquer came to Burma from China as China had been making it for 3,000 years, but it may not have been directly.

Bagan was and is largest and most important centre for lacquer production in Burma.

Lacquer is made from the sap of the htanaung and neem trees. It is tapped like rubber. The grey, viscous liquid turns glossy black on exposure to the air. Objects, which are covered in lacquer, are usually of wood or bamboo, which can be made extremely flexible by interweaving horsehair.

It can also be used as a coating on cane, palm leaf, metal and leather. It forms a hard surface when dry and waterproofs the object and is insect resistant.

Numerous coatings of lacquer are applied. After each application the object is left to dry. The process may take 6 months or longer. A fine piece may have 26 applications. Lacquer furniture can take 2 years to make.

Colour can be applied to it. Traditionally red colouring is used for Burmese lacquer. It is the most distinctive and brilliant and is produced by adding powdered mercuric sulphide, cinnabar, to the lacquer sap.  Ocher and red paint may also be used.  It is added by hand on top of the black lacquer surface. Then dried. Green and yellow are sometimes used, but rarely blue.

In pre-colonial times lacquered boxes stored royal jewels, letters and Buddhist manuscripts. Lacquered trays are still used to give food to the monks.

Ordinary people use lacquer containers for food, clothing, cosmetics and flowers, in preference to the increasingly common metal and plastic.

Map of Bagan.

Mid 20th century.

There is a similar example in Oscar Niemeyer Museum, Curitiba,  Brazil and in Burmese Crafts Past and Present, Sylvia Fraser-Lu, Oxford University Press, 1994, page 228.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Container appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Bamboo, lacquer
Style: Burma
Size: Height 20.5 cm, Diameter 40 cm
Order Number: MHSABT1

A daung-lan, a low circular table, around which the family sit on the floor to eat.

It seems that the art of making lacquer came to Burma from China as China had been making it for 3,000 years, but it may not have been directly.

Bagan was and is largest and most important centre for lacquer production in Burma.

Lacquer is made from the sap of the htanaung and neem trees. It is tapped like rubber. The grey, viscous liquid turns glossy black on exposure to the air. Objects, which are covered in lacquer, are usually of wood or bamboo, which can be made extremely flexible by interweaving horsehair.

It can also be used as a coating on cane, palm leaf, metal and leather. It forms a hard surface when dry and waterproofs the object and is insect resistant.

Numerous coatings of lacquer are applied. After each application the object is left to dry. The process may take 6 months or longer. A fine piece may have 26 applications. Lacquer furniture can take 2 years to make.

Colour can be applied to it. Traditionally red colouring is used for Burmese lacquer. It is the most distinctive and brilliant and is produced by adding powdered mercuric sulphide, cinnabar, to the lacquer sap.  Ocher and red paint may also be used.  It is added by hand on top of the black lacquer surface. Then dried. Green and yellow are sometimes used, but rarely blue.

In pre-colonial times lacquered boxes stored royal jewels, letters and Buddhist manuscripts. Lacquered trays are still used to give food to the monks.

Ordinary people use lacquer containers for food, clothing, cosmetics and flowers, in preference to the increasingly common metal and plastic.

Map of Bagan.

About 80-90 years.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Table 1 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Bamboo, lacquer
Style: Burma
Size: Height 22.5 cm, Diameter 43.5 cm
Order Number: MHSABT2

These stands, called kalat, were used to place gifts, usually food, at an acceptable height above the ground, to monks.

It seems that the art of making lacquer came to Burma from China as China had been making it for 3,000 years, but it may not have been directly.

Lacquer is made from the sap of a tree. It is tapped like rubber. The grey, viscous liquid turns black on exposure to the air. The objects, which are covered in lacquer, are usually of wood or bamboo.

Numerous coatings of lacquer are applied. After each application the object is left to dry. The process may take 6 months or longer. A fine piece may have 26 applications. Lacquer furniture can take 2 years to make.

In pre-colonial times lacquered boxes stored royal jewels, letters and Buddhist manuscripts.

Lacquered trays are still used to give food to the monks.

About 80-90 years.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Table 2 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Bamboo, lacquer
Style: Burma
Size: Height 27.5 cm, Diameter 56 cm
Order Number: MHSABT3

These stands, called kalat, were used to place gifts, usually food, at an acceptable height above the ground, to monks.

It seems that the art of making lacquer came to Burma from China as China had been making it for 3,000 years, but it may not have been directly.

Lacquer is made from the sap of a tree. It is tapped like rubber. The grey, viscous liquid turns black on exposure to the air. The objects, which are covered in lacquer, are usually of wood or bamboo.

Numerous coatings of lacquer are applied. After each application the object is left to dry. The process may take 6 months or longer. A fine piece may have 26 applications. Lacquer furniture can take 2 years to make.

In pre-colonial times lacquered boxes stored royal jewels, letters and Buddhist manuscripts.

Lacquered trays are still used to give food to the monks.

About 80-90 years.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Table 3 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Wood, lacquer
Style: Bagan, Burma
Size: Height 23 cm, Width 47 cm, Depth 28 cm
Order Number: MHSABWLB1

After bamboo basketry, wood is the most common base for lacquer. Boxes of all sizes are made using lacquer. This is a fine, well-proportioned box, red lacquer and a black lacquer base. It is rectangular with a hinged lid and raised up on four feet.

The yun (lacquer) decoration is dense, gyrating and spread all over the surfaces of the box (except for the base). It is unclear what the narrative is. The box would have been intended as a storage box, probably for special or valuable items, such as sacred books.

Mid 20th century.

There is a similar red lacquer box in Burma and the Art of Lacquer, Ralph Isaacs and T. Richard Blurton, River Books, 2000, page 86.

Please ask the price (or make an offer).

The post Antique Burmese Wooden Lacquer Box appeared first on Murni's in Bali.