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A SILVER BETEL BOX CENTERPIECE WITH SCENES FROM THE SAMA JATAKA
ATTRIBUTED TO MAUNG YIN MAUNG, LOWER BURMA (MYANMAR),
FIRST QUARTER OF THE 20TH CENTURY
13 3/8 in. (34 cm) high; 15 3/8 in. (39 cm) diameter
74.7 troy oz (2,011 grams) approximate weight

$30,000 - 50,000
Maung Yin Maung succeeded his father, Maung Shwe Yon, becoming the most famous
Burmese silversmith of his generation in the early 20th century after winning gold at the
international Delhi Exhibition of 1902-3. Several of his top pieces were purchased by British
expatriates and still reside in private collections in the United Kingdom today. Likely the
most skilled of the three siblings that formed the Mg Shwe Yon Bros commercial enterprise,
Maung Yin Maung was clearly also an astute businessman, leveraging the medals he won at
international exhibition in his marketing (figs.1-3).

However, as with other elite silversmiths of the Burmese Silver Age, Maung Yin Maung, did
not sign every piece he made, particularly if it was produced for domestic clientele rather than
art competitions, where doing so might have appeared conceited. This elaborate betel box
centerpiece is almost certainly one such unmarked piece, having the same size, design, and
construction as one Maung Yin Maung won first prize with at the 1904 Rangoon Arts and
Crafts Exhibition (published in Tilly, Modern Burmese Silverwork, 1904, p.49; republished in
Owens, Burmese Silver Art, p.65, fig.3.39). The present example is likely a later iteration with
the same distinctive construction, quartering the generally rounded shape with four vertical
ribs that transition across the pedestal, container, and lid. The pedestal's scalloped edge and
pierced trim closely resemble the award-winning piece, and both centerpieces are topped by a
sculptural finial.
Intricate scenes from the Sama Jataka embellish the betel box's surface, in which the
bodhisattva who is later reborn as Siddartha Gautama, perfects the virtue of Loving-kindness
(maitri). Concealed underneath it, the pedestal's inner tray is chased with central medallion of
a half-woman-half-bird Buddhist kinnara a band of forest deer reflecting Maung Yin Maung's
commitment to detail and thoughtful design. Deer are an important motif in the jataka, as they
immediately recognize the young boy Sama as the bodhisattva. On one of the container's
four faces, the infant Sama, is flanked by two other kinnara who signifying his miraculous birth
to two forest dwelling ascetics granted as a boon in response to the couple's own loving-
kindness. Maung Yin Maung has repeated the sentiment, depicting the kinnara in the tray's
central medallion raising her left hand as if to support the betel box and the little sculpture of
Sama surmounting the lid, carrying his diagnostic water pot with which he tends to his disabled
parents.

Published:
Owens, Burmese Silver Art, pp.62 & 64-5 & 67, no.S149, fig.3.37.

Fig.1
Maung Yin Maung marketing
document, c.1905
Photo: Gilles de Flogny, France

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