Burmese Silver from the Colonial Period

This stunning catalogue presents an exceptional collection of rare Burmese silver.
Accompanied by detailed photographs and explanatory texts, this ground-breaking
book proposes a new way of looking at Burmese silver.
Names, dates, places, and stories – identifying the who, when, where, and what of
Burmese silver has been the focus of publications on the topic. Are these questions
the best way to understand silver, however? Alexandra Green argues that they are not.
Too few pieces provide reliable information about silversmiths, production locations,
and dates to allow for a comprehensive understanding of the subject. Instead, a close
examination of silver patterns reveals strong links with Burmese art history reaching as
far back as the Bagan period (11th to 13th centuries), connections with contemporary
artistic trends, and participation within the wider world of silversmithing.
The first European to write about Burmese silver was H L Tilly, a colonial
official from the late 19th into the early 20th century. Tasked with collecting objects for
various fairs and exhibitions, he took an interest in Burmese art, publishing articles and
books from the 1880s onwards. While much of what he wrote was factually inaccurate
and coloured by the prejudices and stereotypes common at the time, his two volumes
on Burmese silver published in 1902 and 1904 contain pictures of pieces from the
early to mid 19th century. These enable a reconstruction of how silver designs evolved
as the country was absorbed into the Indian Raj, and British and other Westerners
became consumers of local silver products. Tilly was also correct in his interest in
silver designs. Green uses the visual information from his books to describe the
continuities and innovations of designs found on silver from the mid 19th through the
mid 20th century, and she places these trends within local, regional, and global flows
of ideas. Many studies of Burmese silver have been plagued by a lack of understanding
of the Burmese context. In contrast, Green examines silver from a local perspective,
drawing on Burmese texts and information that allows for a nuanced view of the
motifs, designs, and patterns that appear repetitively on silver pieces. Using Graham
Honeybill’s collection, formed over many years, as a basis, she explores how designs
and patterns circulated around the country and were innovatively combined and
recombined on pieces by silversmiths producing objects for Burmese, Western, and
commercial clients.