Burmese Lacquer Betel Box 04

This is a Burmese lacquerware paan or betel (kun-it) box - a traditional item of hospitality in Burmese homes used to offer to visitors. Boxes like this were used to contain the ingredients to make paan, which in its basic form consists of slices of betel nut mixed with lime paste wrapped in betel leaf. The trays in the box would contain these ingredients, or even coconut, saffron, fragrant spices or rose preserves for more special paan preparations. “A maze of sumptuary laws decreed the size, the extent of decoration, and the material permitted for the betel boxes of the various grades of courtiers” says Sylvia Fraser-Lu. Similar Burmese paan boxes can be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. (Ref: Pages 68, 69, and 92 of the book ‘Burmese Lacquerware’ by Sylvia Fraser-Lu.)
The lid of this betel box is decorated with a peacock - a popular motif which symbolises the sun in Burma and was the national emblem of Burma’s last dynasty, the kon-baung kings.

Pages 68, 69, and 92 of the book ‘Burmese Lacquerware’ by Sylvia Fraser-Lu.)