Burma to Myanmar: rubies and repression
Photo: Green Burmese Python - iridescent ceramic by Soe Yu Nwe, a Chinese-Myanmar artist, during a residency at the Jingdezhen kilns in China. It combines the artist’s Chinese zodiac sign with the Burmese belief that pythons are protectors of the Buddha, visually symbolising her unified identity.
Daniel Nelson
Myanmar is among the also-rans in the UN’s international development rankings, but as the new British Museum exhibition, Burma to Myanmar, reminds us it once had an empire and was wealthy.
It still has great wealth, but to share in the benefits of its resources generally requires links with the army.
The exhibition does not shy from spelling it out: “The impact of successive military governments and extreme censorship has been catastrophic for the population, as well as damaging for art and culture. Throughout Myanmar today, the legacies of colonialism, decades of civil war, and repressive dictatorships still cast a long shadow.” The rapacity of military rulers is caricatured in a painting of a saloon car - unattainable at the time without army connections - with tank tracks instead of wheels.
Not that modern and colonial armies are the only culprits: Burma’s royalty - before it was dethroned by Britain - once authorised killing people who barred access to amber mines.
The exhibition, however, set out to show there’s more to the region than conflict, that Myanmar was once a regional power, has great diversity of peoples and cultures (even though curator Alexandra Green points out that the military is trying to homogenise), and, above all, is an example of rich cross-cultural influences.
The influences come from extensive trade links over hundreds of years, large-scale movements of people (including those from areas defeated in battle), religion, and imaginative adaptation, such as the court robe adapted from Thai theatrical costume, in turn adapted from China, with the addition of gold and silver embroidery adapted from Indian textiles.
And like all the best British Museum exhibitions there are wonders to behold, starting with the first objects on display.
One is a letter engraved on a gold sheet set with 24 rubies sent by King Alaungpaya to George 11 in 1756. The only known letter of its kind, it was regarded by George as a mere curiosity though is now a UNESCO Memory of the World object. George’s somewhat dismissive attitude is mirrored later by Britain’s refusal to instruct its troops to bare their feet before entering temples.The ruling was changed only in 1919.
The other eye-catching display in the first room is a showcase whose contents include a letter written on silk, bound in a large shell and held in place by silver supports; marble market weights with the domed shape of sea urchins; amber ear plugs; a teak steering chair; lacquer, gold and jadeite vessels; and a cotton and silk blanket.
You’ll find your own favourites among the show’s 130 objects, which include loans from Singapore, Germany and elsewhere in the UK: maps, a silver sword, a wall-hanging with scenes from the Ramayana; a gold Buddhist reliquary from the 1400s; a delightful crocodile zither; a sudden burst of a red from a Kachin bag decorated with silver beading, pom poms and ribbons.
The complex jostling of the kingdoms in the region in the 15th to the 19th centuries and the impact both of colonial rule and the subsequent hermit-like military governments that have cut themselves off from the world need a bigger exhibition to give a more rounded feel of this fascinating area. But this is an important start.
+ 15 November, Curator’s introduction, online, 5.30pm, free. Info: https://www.britishmuseum.org/events/curators-introduction-burma-myanmar
* Burma to Myanmar, #16, under 16s free,2 for 1 students tickets Fridays, is at the British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1 from 2 November 2023 to 11 February 2024. Info: http//www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/burmatomyanmar