Burmese Courtly Gold Peacock Necklace (Da-li-zan)

This da-li-zan necklace which also has a  ‘trembling’ (le-ton) aspect is of fine, high-carat gold filigree (around 22 carats) and comprises a string of tiny peacock, crescent and sun motifs arranged in a lace-like, lattice structure, with pendant dangles. Such a fine necklace was intended to emulate strands of fresh jasmine and other fine flowers that Burmese women would wear in their hair and elsewhere. Necklaces such as these were worn bib-like just beneath the chin or neck.

The components are suspended from a superbly worked plaited gold collar which has an ‘S’-type closure – all in gold.

Such necklaces were produced for the courts of the Konbaung Dynasty, which was based in a large moted palace compound in Mandalay, in its final years. The Konbaung Dynasty was the last dynasty to rule Burma before being deposed by the British – it ruled from 1752 to 1885.

The peacock was the insignia of the Konbaung court. The sun and crescent moon motifs also have courtly associations.

Many court artisans in the royal capital of Mandalay were left without work in the aftermath of the removal of the Konbaung dynasty in 1885. However, they quickly found new patrons in the colonial British expatriate community.

See a less elaborate example attributed to the second quarter of the 19th century in the Victoria & Albert Museum. Another example is illustrated in Gerlach (1971, pl. 87), and in Fraser-Lu (1994, p. 171).

The necklace here is in excellent and wearable condition. There are barely detectable, minor losses to a dangle here or there, but otherwise is intact.