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           A SILVER STORAGE BOX WITH SCENES FROM THE SAMA    vignettes from the Sama Jataka, wherein the bodhisattva who is later
           JATAKA AND THE RAMAYANA                           reborn as Siddhartha Gautama perfects the virtue of Loving-kindness
           LOWER BURMA (MYANMAR), 1925                       (maitri). The scenes include the young boy Sama accompanied by
           7 1/8 in. (18 cm) high; 5 3/4 in. (14.5 cm) diameter   deer, who are able to recognize that he is the bodhisattva, and Sama
           21.9 troy oz (681 grams) approximate weight       gathering water for his irreparably blinded and poisoned parents.

           $15,000 - 20,000                                  On the one hand, the silversmith’s juxtaposition of these two stories
                                                             is probably indicative of the expatriate audience it was created for,
                                                             being submitted to an art competition. Whereas, most Burmese silver
           This impeccable lidded container won first prize at the Rangoon Arts   that seems more clearly made for native patrons would depict one
           and Crafts Exhibition in 1925. However, contrary to what we would   story or the other, his blending of the two religious story woven into
           expect from European silversmiths, the artist did mark the piece to   the fabric of Burmese culture and society would have appealed as
           identify himself. Neither is he mentioned in an accompanying letter   of a deft souvenir to the informed expatriate. On the other hand, it is
           written by the Bishop of Rangoon (Yangon), gifting the piece to a   also perhaps no accident that the Sama Jataka was selected among
           supporter of his diocese (fig.1). While some works from the Burmese   several popular jatakas represented in Burmese silver to appear
           Silver Age do identify their creators, particularly when they were   alongside the Ramayana, as both stories have a strong moral focus
           created for international competitions sponsored by the British colonial   on filial piety—Rama accepts his father’s banishment, and Sama is
           government, the overwhelming majority do not. This anonymity is   resurrected from the dead in admiration for his love and care of his
           believed to reflect religious and cultural values. The most common of   disabled parents. Filial piety being a pillar of Burmese culture, the
           these being Buddhist strictures on vanity, pride, and the attachment to   conflation of the two stories would have almost certainly resonated
           material objects.                                 with members of native Burmese and emigrant Indian members of the
                                                             nouveau riche that would have almost been among the exhibition’s
           In a rather unique instance, the elite silversmith appears to bridge the   attendees. In doing so, the anonymous silversmith perhaps created
           two most prevalent sources of moral instruction for Burmese laity in   applied his skills to an artwork that would appeal to his broad
           during the Silver Age: the predominantly Hindu Ramayana and the   audience.
           Buddhist Jataka Tales. In the central band around the container’s
           cylindrical body, he depicts the events leading in the Dandaka forest   Published:
           leading to Sita’s abduction. Each vignette is flanked by a pair of   Owens, Burmese Silver Art, pp.56-7, no.S132, fig.3.25.
           celestial adorants holding conch shells, which a symbolic of the Hindu
           god Vishnu who manifests as Rama in the epic. These scenes have
           a miniature scale, yet the figural modelling and arboreal backdrops
           are accomplished with crisp definition. Meanwhile, the lid displays





























                                               Fig.1
                                               Letter from the Bishop of Rangoon,
                                               15 June 1926, enclosed with his gift
                                               of the present storage box




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