BIRMANIE, XIXÈME-XXÈME SIÈCLE

Monumental in scale and lavishly gilt and embellished with glass and semi-precious stones, the present shrine was almost certainly commissioned for a Buddhist temple within the royal complex at the Mandalay Palace in Burma in the mid-nineteenth century. The Palace was completed in 1859 after King Mindon founded Mandalay as the new royal capital – the complex was walled and surrounded by a moat as a defensive bulwark against the British in the ongoing Third Anglo-Burmese War. The Palace complex was heavily destroyed by allied bombing in World War II, and few monumental examples of this nineteenth century royal style remain. A large shrine in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum (IS.11:1 to 24, 28 to 31-1969) compares closely to the present example, as does a large shrine in the collection of the Asian Art Museum San Francisco (2006.27.17 and 2006.27.1.a-.t).