Burmese Silver Figures

Two Solid-Cast Silver Figures in Traditional Dress

This pair of solid-cast, engraved silver figures shows a Burmese lady dancing in traditional Burmese dress, and a masked figure, also dancing and in traditional dress.

Both figures are of solid, high-grade silver and are exceptionally well modelled. The movement and flow depicted shows Burmese silver-smithing at a particularly high standard – Burmese cast silver figures are relatively common but these are among the finest examples we have seen.

Possibly, the figures were made to adorn the lids of containers as finials or similar, but they are both on locally-made Burmese wooden stands. The stands differ in size but the two figures are of similar sizes.

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.

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