[Burmese Manuscript]

A large folding Burmese manuscript (pap tup or parabaik) with elaborately gilt and inlaid covers

[Myanmar, Shan State, circa 1930].

455 × 203 × 105 mm, written on both sides of sheets of thick mulberry paper ('sa'), joined and folded to form a single long concertina of some 414 pages (including recto and verso, and the inside surface of the covers). Almost all surfaces contain manuscript text, generally eleven lines per page on one side and ten lines per page on the other.

The covers consist of laminated mulberry paper decorated with elaborate raised floriate designs in moulded 'thayo' (lacquer putty) richly inlaid with foil-backed glass ('hman-zi swei-cha'), set against a cinnabar-red lacquer ground and finished with gold leaf; all edges similarly lacquered and gilt; covers slightly worn, with some minor loss at one corner; a couple of trifling cracks to the lacquer; some waterstains internally (generally faint and unobtrusive); a few corrections in pencil; edge colour encroaching into the margins of a few openings; a few other minor signs of age and handling; overall, in very good condition.

A large and impressive manuscript, likely a Buddhist text in the Theravada tradition. It is written in at least two hands in Mon-Burmese script, and appears to contain text in Burmese, Shan and Pali (the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism and of its canonical text, the Tipiyaka). The form and decoration are characteristic of the Shan people of northern Myanmar, who would commission fine manuscripts of devotional works as a process of merit-making, often in commemoration of important events or the death of a family member.

We have identified the date 1292 BE (corresponding to 1930 CE) on one of the outer leaves; it may be a colophon giving the date of production, or a dedication page commemorating the donation or presentation of the manuscript.