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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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