Page 112 - Bonhams March 22 2022 Indian and Himalayan Art NYC

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A LARGE SILVER OFFERING BOWL WITH SCENES FROM THE RAMAYANA
LOWER BURMA (MYANMAR), DATED 1918
The bowl's underside has a silversmith's insignia of a kneeling, grazing deer and a dated
inscription, translated: "Mr Pa Lor. Myanmar Calendar Year 1290 [1918 CE]".
10 in. (25.5 cm) high; 19 1/8 in. (48.5 cm) diameter;
127 1/2 troy oz (3,967 grams) approximate weight
$40,000 - 60,000

This exceptional ceremonial offering bowl is by far the largest in the Noble Silver Collection.
Employing sophisticated narrative registers, an elite silversmith illustrates key events in the
Ramayana leading up to Sita's abduction from the Dandaka forest.
In the first scene, Prince Rama travels with his brother Lakshmana and the sage Vishvamitra to
Janaka's kingdom and asks to marry Princess Sita. In the second, Rama succeeds in stringing
Shiva's bow, thus meeting Janaka's condition for winning Sita's hand. An aghast Ravana
seemingly faints before Rama's triumphant stance, foreshadowing the ogre-king's eventual
demise from one of Rama's arrows. In the third scene, Rama piously departs from Ayodhya
to begin his period of exile. He, Sita, and Lakshmana are then shown settled in the Dandaka
forest, with Sita imploring Rama to hunt a golden deer that Ravana's kin, Maricha, has
disguised herself as to lure Rama away. In the following scene, Rama and Lakshmana accost
Maricha, while Ravana creeps through the forest. The last three scenes show Ravana dragging
Sita to his flying chariot and carting her off in the sky, while the monkey-king Sugriva offers to
help the prone Rama, and Hanuman is shown chasing after the chariot.

A golden deer is central to the ruse by which Ravana is able to distract Rama and Lakshmana
and abduct Sita, thus setting in motion the Ramayana's chief conflict. Through an inspired
visual metaphor around the rim of this bowl, the silversmith thus depicts a deer tumbling
round and round through foliage, just as it turns our heroes' world upside down. Moreover,
the direction in which the deer rolls prompts the viewer to read the bowl's scenes in the
correct counterclockwise sequence. With an equally dynamic compositional effect, he also
webs together many dome-shaped Burmese rosewood trees (Pterocarpus indicus), bending
their gnarled limbs into complex scene dividers that guide the viewer through the story. In
addition, the artist vertically stacks the scenes in which Rama and Sita are separated into top
and bottom halves, one half featuring heroes and the other villains, both moving in opposing
directions. As a result, while Rama and Lakshmana have their attention focused on Maricha in
the upper register, Ravana and a small entourage crouch and slip past them below.

110 | BONHAMS