Burmese Pegu Pair of Cast Bronze Dancers

This finely-cast pair of bronzes from Pegu, Burma, shows a young female dancer and a male dancer, both in traditional courtly Burmese dress and with much dynamism and movement reflected in their poses. The female dancer is shown with copious jewellery, a high headdress and jasmine flowers in her hair. The male dancer holds an umbrella aloft. He has a moustache and and holds aloft one of the folds of his longyi whilst standing on one foot.

Both bronzes are attached to their original wooden stands. Both are unsigned.

The casters of Pegu, located near to Rangoon, produced finely detailed bronzes of local people engaged in everyday activities, such as this example. Such sculptures emerged at the same time as Burmese painters adopted Western-style realism. Their naturalistic forms drew on European techniques as well as Burmese religious statuary.  Pegu bronzes made mostly for the local expatriate market were exhibited at the various British Empire Exhibitions held in the 1920s and 1930s, both in London but also in India (from where Burma was administered during colonial rule) and Rangoon itself.

Figurines such as these were bought by British administrators and their families in Burma as souvenirs and gifts for friends on their return home. As Fraser Lu (1994, p. 143) says, some examples, especially later examples, barely rise above tourist kitsch, but others, such as the the example here, with its sense of proportion, realism and attention to detail is a minor masterpieces of bronze casting. Such bronzes are testament to the ingenuity and flexibility of Burma’s master craftsmen during the colonial era who were able to switch between producing high quality items for local as well as expatriate consumption.

The sculptures here are highly detailed, and in fine condition.

 

Above: Two photographs of a collection of Pegu bronzes we previously sold to Singapore’s National Gallery, as displayed in the National Gallery.