Burmese Box

The material an artist chooses to work with reveals much about the way she views herself. Take this nineteenth century box from what was then Burma, for example:Native Muslims would use boxes like these to store Qurans. The earliest such Quran boxes came from Egypt, where they would be made of brass inlaid with silver and gold. Separately, native Buddhists had an indigenous tradition of storing Buddhist texts in lacquer and gem-encrusted boxes.{{1}} Straddling two traditions and two identities, the artisan behind this box worked with locally available materials to create an object for an essentially foreign purpose. On one hand, the box reassures the Buddhist Burmans that their Muslim brethren are just like them; on the other hand, the Quranic inscription reminds them that they are still different.Fast-forward a hundred and fifty years, the Burmese box of today (see below) is made of an absolutely contemporary material: Plexiglas. It tells of a newly open Myanmar, hoping to cast off old loyalties and obsolete traditions, and eager to take its place in the modern world.  [[1]]The Asian Civilisations Museum A-Z Guide, 2006.[[1]]