Burmese Silver from the Colonial Period

This stunning catalogue presents an exceptional collection of rare Burmese silver.Accompanied by detailed photographs and explanatory texts, this ground-breakingbook proposes a new way of looking at Burmese silver.Names, dates, places, and stories – identifying the who, when, where, and what ofBurmese silver has been the focus of publications on the topic. Are these questionsthe best way to understand silver, however? Alexandra Green argues that they are not.Too few pieces provide reliable information about silversmiths, production locations,and dates to allow for a comprehensive understanding of the subject. Instead, a closeexamination of silver patterns reveals strong links with Burmese art history reaching asfar back as the Bagan period (11th to 13th centuries), connections with contemporaryartistic trends, and participation within the wider world of silversmithing.The first European to write about Burmese silver was H L Tilly, a colonialofficial from the late 19th into the early 20th century. Tasked with collecting objects forvarious fairs and exhibitions, he took an interest in Burmese art, publishing articles andbooks from the 1880s onwards. While much of what he wrote was factually inaccurateand coloured by the prejudices and stereotypes common at the time, his two volumeson Burmese silver published in 1902 and 1904 contain pictures of pieces from theearly to mid 19th century. These enable a reconstruction of how silver designs evolvedas the country was absorbed into the Indian Raj, and British and other Westernersbecame consumers of local silver products. Tilly was also correct in his interest insilver designs. Green uses the visual information from his books to describe thecontinuities and innovations of designs found on silver from the mid 19th through themid 20th century, and she places these trends within local, regional, and global flowsof ideas. Many studies of Burmese silver have been plagued by a lack of understandingof the Burmese context. In contrast, Green examines silver from a local perspective,drawing on Burmese texts and information that allows for a nuanced view of themotifs, designs, and patterns that appear repetitively on silver pieces. Using GrahamHoneybill’s collection, formed over many years, as a basis, she explores how designsand patterns circulated around the country and were innovatively combined andrecombined on pieces by silversmiths producing objects for Burmese, Western, andcommercial clients.