Antique/Vintage Hsun Ok Monk’s Offering Vessel, Burma/Myanmar (6220BME) $725

Description

A hsun ok is a spiritual vessel used in Theravada Buddhism by families to carry food and other offerings to monks in monasteries or temples and, in the past, to members of the royal family. These spiritual acts are to gain merit: good deeds that improve one’s life and inner self and attract other positive events and good karma. Used exclusively in Burma/Myanmar, they are one of the most visually unique and attractive forms of Burmese lacquerware containers, an artistic craft that has flourished in Pagan since the 13^th century. Although simply shaped, making imaginative, wonderfully shaped vessels is labor intensive and complex and requires long, intense and skilled workmanship. They are recognized by their vibrant red lacquer or black finishes containing cinnabar mixed with tree sap and sometimes pulverized bone for added strength. Their smooth simple surfaces are often finished with thayo, a low relief technique using lacquer sap and ash-like putty to apply elegant raised molded, modeled or stamped relief designs and decorative vertical lines on the foot, cover or body. The wood, bamboo and woven fiber skeletons are composed of many successive layers, each requiring lots of time and labor, often weeks to apply and smooth out and days of drying layers to make the piece resilient. None are alike, but each is composed of a footed pedestal base topped with a rounded bowl that sometimes contains removal trays and an elegant lid topped with a complex wood spire finial reflecting the soaring outline of a Burmese pagoda or an ancient Buddha stupa (burial mound). This one has a striking silhouette with repeating raised circular layers from bottom to top on the pedestal base with woven vertical bands, a broad central bowl with the top with bordered raised circular layers and a complex triangular spire topped by a round finial. Since the bottom lacquer layer of Hsun-oks is always black, older ones like this often have black showing through the red. Hsun-oks are traditionally placed on an altar flanking a Buddha image at temples and monasteries, or a home “Buddha shelf” on an eastern wall. This piece is in excellent condition and was featured as a VA Instagram post.