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Please help identify this golden decorative object. Country of origin and time period. Thanks in advance.

Try your search in the direction of "Burmese lacquer offering bowl". As to age, it looks old, perhaps between 50 to 100 years.Experts in this field may be able to give you better advice.

Hi Michael O, where may I look for the "experts in this field"? Thanks in advance.

You might find additional information in back issues of 'Arts of Asia Magazine', the scholarly Hong Kong publication. I checked their website search feature and got the following index listings:

2. BOOK REVIEW
LACQUERware Journeys:
The Untold Story of Burmese LACQUER
BY : JULIAN HARDING
Jul-Aug 2013
http://www.artsofasianet.com/back_issues/back_issue.php?issue_code=2013_jul_aug


3. VISUAL NARRATIVES IN
BURMESE LACQUER
BY : SYLVIA FRASER-LU
May-Jun 2013
http://www.artsofasianet.com/back_issues/back_issue.php?issue_code=2013_may_jun


14. MYANMAR LACQUER AND GOLD LEAF: FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE 18TH CENTURY
BY : NOEL F. SINGER
Jan-Feb 2002
http://www.artsofasianet.com/back_issues/back_issue.php?issue_code=2002_jan_feb


19. NINETEENTH CENTURY COURT LACQUERWARE AND THE BOX OF "THE SORCERESS"
BY : NOEL F. SINGER
Jul-Aug 1996
http://www.artsofasianet.com/back_issues/back_issue.php?issue_code=1996_jul_aug


20. JENGTUNG LACQUERWARE
BY : NOEL. F. SINGER
Sep-Oct 1991
http://www.artsofasianet.com/back_issues/back_issue.php?issue_code=1991_sep_oct


23. THE GOVERNMENT LACQUER SCHOOL AND MUSEUM OF PAGAN
BY : SYLVIA FRASER-LU
Jul-Aug 1986
http://www.artsofasianet.com/back_issues/back_issue.php?issue_code=1986_jul_aug

You can go to www.artsofasianet.com and follow the "back issues" links to find out which issues are most appropriate for your needs and are available direct from the publisher. Sometimes you'll also find others being auctioned on eBay.

Hope this helps.

Bill H.

Hi Bill H,

Your response is most helpful. You have a good knowledge of these things and have put in much efforts in the reply to the post. I can't thank you enough.

This is a Shan offering vessel of the type called "Hsun Ok" in Burma, where the Shan are the largest ethnic Tai group and a principal maker of handicrafts. It's always tough to judge by photographs, but yours could date to the late 19th-early 20th Century. I believe that such ornate examples of Hsun Ok traditionally were commissioned by Buddhist disciples and donated to temples for food storage as a merit-making act. I've included a link to one similar to yours shown online, as well as a photo of an antique one with pedestal base that I obtained in Burma during the late 20th century. For a full range of images, just Google the term "Hsun Ok".

Best regards,

Bill H.



URL Title :HsunOk

Thank you, Michael O and Bill H, your replies are very helpful.

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