Myanmar (BURMA) School Red and Gold lacquered manuscript, Kammavaca. Myanmar (BURMA) School. Red and

Myanmar (BURMA) School.

Red and Gold lacquered manuscript, Kammavaca.

[Burma: early 20th century]. 16 leaves (4 7/8 x 22 inches), each lacquered in red with elaborate overall decoration in gilt, 14 leaves with lines of black/dark brown lacquer text in square script (known as 'magyi-zi) recto and verso, two leaves with text on one side only, the other with an overall decoration in gilt.

Condition of contents: without the tie but otherwise excellent.

Unbound between a pair of red lacquered boards with chamfered borders, gilt decoration on outer surfaces.

Condition of covers: upper covers rubbed with loss ot the gilding (see images)

A fine highly decorative early-20th-century Burmese Kammavaca (possibly eve late-19th century?). Considered to be one of the most sacred of Burmese religious texts, the Kammavaca was typically commissioned by lay-people, when their son entered a Buddhist monastery, as a work of merit.

"In the 17th century, folios began to be made of pieces of cloth coated with lacquer and painted with cinnabar, and the square letters were written in thick, black lacquer. On rare occasions, folios were of ivory. Designs in gilt, which had been reserved for the ends of folios, end papers, and wooden coverboards, now began to appear between the lines of text. By the end of the 19th century, the lines of script on the folio increased to six or seven and sheets of brass or copper were introduced as folios" (John Falconer, and others, 'Myanmar Style Art, Architecture and Design of Burma', Hong Kong, 1998, p. 177).

Relating to rituals of ordination and monastic life, the Kammavaca (a Pali term) describes selected verses from the Tipitaka. "Kammavaca are volumes of one, five, or nine extracts from the Theravadin Vinaya, each relating to specific ceremonies associated with monks. Noel F. Singer writes that the earliest kammavaca consisted of folios made of plain palm leaves, each of which had four lines of square-inked script on a gold or silver background." ("Kammavaca Texts: Their Covers and Binding Ribbons," Arts of Asia, 23, May-June 1993).

ref: 17.044