Burmese Lacquered Be-it

Large Costume & Cosmetics Lacquer Box (Be-it)

This unusually large, circular Burmese lacquered box is known as a be-it (also spelt as bi-it) and would have been made for an aristocratic Burmese lady to store her dress and cosmetics. Such a box would have been used i the home but also was taken travelling. It is made from a woven bamboo frame that has been completely covered in lacquer.

It comprises a lid, a high base and one shallow, internal tray. The internal tray sits inside the main box and would have held the lady’s cosmetics. This would lift out to reveal the storage space beneath for her dress. The container sits on a raised, circular, tiered foot.

The outside of the box is finely decorated with

kein-nya (man-bird) figures amid scrolling shrubbery and geometric borders, all in dark colours against an orange-red lacquer ground.

The underside of the internal tray is decorated in light green-blue lacquer with a picture of an aristocratic woman with a parasol, a servant and a dog.

The underside of the base of the overall container is decorated with two deer.

An old furniture depository label is attached to the base. It is marked Portsmouth – which is where many ships from the Orient berthed when they reached Britain.

Examples of other be-its are illustrated in Fraser-Lu ( 2000, p. 183), Isaacs & Blurton (2000, pp. 173-74), and Than Htun (2013, p. 67).

This monumental proportions of this box and the relative refinement of its decoration make it a fine example.

The box is in relatively fine condition given its age, size and the material from which it is made. There is some crack to the lacquerwork as can be expected but overall, the condition is very good.