Burmese "koftgari" question

Mark · 19th March 2007, 03:10 PM

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

).

19th March 2007, 03:10 PM	#1
Mark Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 987	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 ).