Burmese Silver Bowl

Elaborately Repoussed Silver Bowl (Thabeik)

This unusual silver bowl is repoussed with five scenes of figures in traditional Burmese costume within extensive and dense borders of interlocking foliage within which are a variety of birds and bear-like creatures.

The repousse work is fine and the bowl is of noticeably high-grade silver. The shape is unusual with its high height relative to its diameter and gently concaved sides may suggest Pegu rather than Rangoon or Mandalay as the place of manufacture.

The base is engraved with a phoenix-like bird.

The bowl is in fine condition. The walls are thick and as a consequence the bowl is unexpectedly heavy in the hand.

Fraser-Lu, S.,

Silverware of South-East Asia, Oxford University Press, 1989.

Fraser-Lu, S.,

Burmese Crafts: Past and Present, Oxford University Press, 1994.

Tilly, H.L.,

The Silverwork of Burma (with Photographs by P. Klier), The Superintendent, Government Printing, 1902.

Tilly, H.L.,

Modern Burmese Silverwork (with Photographs by P. Klier), The Superintendent, Government Printing, 1904.

UK art market