Burmese "koftgari" question
 

It is rather late to be asking this, as I am giving a table presentation this Saturday on the subject, but does anyone (especially Alaung Hpaya) know the Burmese word for the silver decoration on dha, and other sharp objects such as betal cutters? I've been calling it koftgari, but that is not very appropriate, not only because it is not a Burmese word, but also because the decoration is not really done the same way, from what I understand.

Hello Mark

Is it possible for you to attach any pic of Burmese Koftgari or any decoration item because i wana see this art.

Sandeep

Sorry don't know I'm afraid . I'll try to ask around .

Does Sylvia Frase-LU mention anything about this in her book Burmese Crafts : Past & Present ?


Most silver inlaid art is simply just called Ngwe Ba-Ji ( Silver Art )

I assume you mean a variation on the technique of pounding silver wire onto a scored surface. I usually call such types of decoration "overlay" as opposed to "inlay," which is, of course, silver wire forced into a carved channel. In the absence of an appropriate Burmese term, I think English is fine (or, at least, preferable to the Indian term).

Fraser-Lu mentions it, but does not give it a name. She calls it "inlay" (see pp. 148-49 & figs. 142 and 143). She essentially quotes a passage of Bell, "Iron and Steel Work in Burma" (1907), which is the only reference I have found, other than Lu, that discusses it.

Nick - overlay is a good word for it (why didn't I think of that? :o ). It is not exactly inlaid, because it is not forced into inscribed patterns, but rather applied to a broader roughened area on the metal surface.

Thank you Mark for your great display and paper on "Overlay decoration on Burmese Dha Blades" at the Ethnographic Arms Seminar. I believe a similar overlay technique is used in Bali for betel nut crackers and ceremonial axes. Actually, both inlay or overlay techniques are used for the decoration of the Bali blades.

Here are some pictures.
http://old.blades.free.fr/pics/picot...04/dot04_s.jpg
http://old.blades.free.fr/pics/picot...5/dot05b_s.jpg

You can view more at
http://old.blades.free.fr/other_indo/kacip.htm
http://old.blades.free.fr/other_indo/bali_axes.htm

Dominique,

I can see exactly what you mean. It does look like the same technique, which refutes its "uniqueness" to Burma. As we discussed yesterday, I agree that there is little or no derivation possible - for one thing the styles of both the pieces and the decoration are completely different, pretty much eliminating the possiblity that some Burmese craftsman migrated so far south and off the continent. The opposite possiblity, that a Balinese craftsman moved north into Burma, would seem equally unlikely for largely the same reasons in addition to the information from Bell's informant that it was developed (at least in Burma) by a specific family five generations before Bell's interview of the informant.

Has anyone else found this type of decoration on islandic SEA pieces? If so, what kind and from which cultures? It would be most interesting to find a source describing the way in which the decoration it applied, though I imagine that it must be very similar to the way it is done in Burma.

This is exactly the kind of new information that us over-specialized researchers need. :) I will need to amend by text to state that the decoration appears to be unique to Burmese dha (at least until someone pulls out a Lao dha with overlay, proving me wrong again :o ).