Turtles and a Bird - Myanmar

Three vintage jewelry boxes/containers, two shaped like turtles and one like a bird. The pieces are made using the ancient Shwe Zawa artistic technique, used to hand-decorate Burmese lacquer with gold leaf on a black background.
The visual appeal of this art lies in its strong color contrast. The decorative designs, rich in intricate detail, are applied using pure gold leaf over surfaces that have first been lacquered in glossy black.
Handcrafted, lightweight, authentic vintage pieces purchased in the Orient in the 1970s; they show slight signs of age-related wear. One turtle and the bird are in very good condition. The interiors are perfect; any white specks visible in the photos are reflections of light on the glossy black surface.

The second turtle is in fair condition. It has lost some of its gold, particularly around the neck, and has a small chip in the black lacquer on the underside (see image number 11). The interior feels sticky.

Dimensions: The pair of turtles approximately 4.5 x 20 x 16 cm (inside diameter 14.5 cm), each weighing 225 grams; the bird approximately 6.5 x 10 x 10 cm (inside diameter 9.5 cm), weighing 99 grams.

For anyone interested in learning more, these objects are made by coating a material with lacquer, a liquid substance obtained from the sap of a tree or from resin flakes dissolved in alcohol. Once hardened, the lacquer forms a smooth, protective coating that is lightweight and water-repellent. The base material is wood.