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Burmese Shan Lacquer Offering Bowl (Hsun-ok) browse these categories for related items... All Items: Archives:Regional Art:Asian:Southeast Asian: Pre 1900: item # 558208 Please refer to our stock # 57-51 when inquiring.
Silk Road Gallery PO Box 2175 Branford, Connecticut 06405, USA (203) 208-0771 Guest Book SOLD |
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| This striking 19th century red lacquer container from Burma was used for the presentation of food to a monastery. Called a hsun-ok, the distinctive form of the wide bowl set on a waisted pedestal and topped with a lid tapering to a spire is one of the icons of Burma's devoutly Buddhist population. The series of stepped rings on the lid of this particular bowl marks it as a vessel created and used in the northern region within the Shan states, located in the eastern part of Burma. Offering bowls were made in interpretations of the basic hsun-ok form that varied from region to region in Burma. This one is fitted with a shallow lacquer tray. A Shan family would have placed rice, fruit or boiled eggs in the bowl and perhaps some curry or cheroots on the tray. After covering the contents with the spired lid, the bowl was taken through the streets to the monastery. A procession of hsun-ok, usually gracefully carried by women on their heads, must have been a magical sight. The offering bowl is made of lightweight wood and coiled bamboo covered with many coats of lacquer. Creating this vessel required many weeks as each coat of lacquer dried, was burnished and then was covered with successive layers. On old offering bowls such as this one the top coats of red lacquer have worn away to reveal areas of black lacquer underneath, which gives the piece an exceptionally pleasing look. This hsun-ok is in very good condition. Dimensions: height 19-1/2" (50 cm), diameter 13-1/2" (35 cm). | |||||||||||||||
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