Mid-20th Century. Buddhist Sculpted Red and Gold Lacquerware Rice Box. Elephant Design. Manadalay. Burma. Myanmar
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This rice lacquerware is from Bagan, the ancient city located in the Mandalay Region of Burma.
Decorative rice boxes were and are used today to deliver and distribute rice to monks. This can take place in the streets when daily alms are collected . . . or in temples.
Glutinous aka Sticky Rice is put into banana leaf packets and then put into the rice box.
This box – with its elephant designs – came from the Golden Triangle, where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet.
The box is in good condition considering its age – from the 1930s. Detailed elephant designs and traces of gold leaf still exist. There are traces of lacquer loss/cracks over the bamboo weave inside the lid. There are no other issues with this historic piece.
For the Serious Collector