BURMA, 19TH CENTURY

Fortune-telling books were one of the tools of trade of the Burmese astrologers. The internal side of the folding book, opening from right to left, contains 28 illustrations within panels surrounded by yellow borders which depict scenes of a man and a woman and very often an animal. Each scene has an inscription listing different birth years from the 19th century and short inscriptions along the lines of 'children born in these years will be donors of monasteries and revere religion' or 'if children born in these years rear elephants, horses, buffaloes or cows, they will prosper'. The illustrations were made for expository purposes for the benefit of illiterate clients.