Cast Brass Pegu Burmese Dancers
Fine Pair of Cast Brass Dancers in Traditional Costume
Pegu, Burma
circa 1920
height: 20cm (each; including attached stands)
This fine pair of female dancers dressed in traditional formal court dance costume are remarkable for their naturalistic modelling and their elegance. The two are a true pair, being a precise mirror image of each other. It is the first time that we have encountered a surviving pair of this type of Burmese bronze figurine.
They are attached to their original teak wood bases.
Figurines such as these were a specialty of metal casters in Pegu, not far from Rangoon. They were bought by British administrators and their families in Burma as souvenirs and gifts for friends on their return home.
As Sylvia Fraser Lu (1994, p. 143) says, some examples barely rise above tourist kitsch but others such as those shown here, with their sense of proportion, realism, and attention to detail are minor masterpieces of bronze casting.
The figures and their stands are in excellent condition.
References
Fraser-Lu, S., Burmese Crafts: Past and Present, Oxford University Press, 1994.
Provenance
UK art market
Inventory no.: 2154
SOLD
