Burmese Lacquer Gold Leaf Trinket Box

This is a beautiful black and gold Burmese lacquerware trinket box. The gold decoration is used to create a lotus design on the top of the lid, and floral designs around the lotus, and also around the opening of the box. The gold leaf lacquerware is called Shwe-zaqa. It is less time consuming to produce than yun ware, but is just as demanding artistically. First, on a highly polished lacquer surface, the artist carefully blocks off the areas not to be gilded with a covering of orpiment and the gum of the neem tree. In doing so, he creates a negative design for the application of gold. Then a coat of fresh lacquer is placed on the blank areas, and the entire surface of the object is covered with gold leaf. When the newly lacquered areas are almost dry, the surface is washed with water. Gold on the areas covered by orpiment is washed away, revealing a brilliant gold design on a shiny lacquer background. The object is then allowed to dry in a special cellar.