Antique Burmese Gilded Lacquer Offering Vessel on Stand

Description

The object, a box with a bird form sitting on a footed stand is a HSUN OK, an offering vessel … more The object, a box with a bird form sitting on a footed stand is a HSUN OK, an offering vessel used in Buddhist rituals in Burma, today Myanmar. The practice is Theravāda Buddhism by nearly 90% of the population of Myanmar, and is predominantly of the Theravada tradition (the lower vehicle, without the large pantheon of Buddhism, with the exception of Buddha.) It is the most religious Buddhist country in terms of the proportion of monks in the population and proportion of income spent on religion. Followers of Buddhism make offerings to the monks, and in the 19th century Burmese Kingdom, the opulence of the offering box was based on the sumptuary laws. The palace would have the most exquisite and sometimes tour de force of hsun ok vessels, then the nobility would follow in accordance to their wealth and rank.

The vessel here once belonged to a high rank noble who used this as offering to the monks of his temple. It was made by artisans who were well versed in making vessels of this type. The basic form was constructed in bamboo and wood and coated with THAYO embedded with shiny glass pieces. THAYO is a putty of lacquer sap mixed with clay, sawdust or ash, and can then be molded or sculpted into the desired form. The bird form is a KARAWEIK, a legendary Burmese crane with its tail held high and wings extended. The base , embedded with glass form its body with short feet. The round footed base has gold lacquer with embedded glass flowers and raised scroll designs on the apron from which hangs an openwork lace like apron. The foot has a simple triple molding of which the top molding is done in thayo. less