A GILDED LACQUER AND GESSO MANUSCRIPT STORAGE CABINET

Myanmar (Burma), 19th century

Of rectangular shape, resting on a plain wooden base, the three visible side boards with low relief plaques of gilt and lacquered figural and animal decoration, possibly scenes from the Buddhist Jataka Tales, narrating stories from the past lives of the Buddha, several scenes set in local wooden interiors with attendants and rulers, elephants, lions and horses depicted in the same scene side by side to the human characters, each panel depicting consecutive moments from the same history, framed within a beaded band with scrollwork, the interior painted in black with a fitted rectangular lidded case on the left hand-side, 40.5cm x 77cm x 44.5cm.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 29th April 1993, lot 364, the Property of a Gentleman.