Burmese Lacquer Ramayana Tray

This is a beautiful black and gold Burmese lacquerware tray. The gold leaf decoration depicts the scene from Ramayana, where Rama is hunting a golden deer at the behest of his wife Sita. The deer is actually the sister of Ravana in disguise, and the ruse leads to the abduction of Sita. Around the edge are two solid gold bands, and sandwiched between is a curving trefoil design. This 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. By 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.