Myanmar, early 19th century|The wood chest's front panel ornamented with metal, glass, lacquer, and gold leaf. 24 x 45 1/2 x 25in (61 x 115.6 x 63.5cm)|Described by Sylvia Fraser-Lu in a recent exhibition catalog:'The front panel of this teak scripture chest (sa-daik) has been embellished in lacquer and cut glass with a rendition of Mount Meru, the center of the Buddhist universe, which rests in a vast ocean with gigantic fish encircling the base. Instead of the usual schema of mountains, oceans, and guardians and gods in their dwellings, the summit of Mount Meru here is occupied by a pair of adorants flanking a stupa, possibly the Culamani, which according to the biography of the Buddha, enshrines the locks of the Buddha's hair severed at the Great Renunciation and a tooth taken by Dona at the distribution of relics following the parinibbana. Flanking Mount Meru are two-storied and triple-tiered pavilions that house a standing Buddha in the central pavilion on the right and a seated effigy in the upper story on the left. The other rooms in the pavilions and the surrounding courtyards are filled with devotees oriented toward the two Buddha figures in worshipful attitudes. Trailing sprigs of foliage fill the background. The thick chunks of glass backed by sheet metal and cemented in place with ribbons of thayo lacquer suggest an early-nineteenth-century date.'Compare a similar front panel, divorced from its chest, in the Victoria & Albert Museum (Acc.#593-1906), published in Clarke, 'Highlights of the Lacquer Collection from Myanmar (Burma) in the Victoria and Albert Museum,' in Arts of Asia, Vol.47, No.5, September-October 2017, p.51.ExhibitedBuddhist Art of Myanmar, Asia Society Museum, New York, 10 February-10 May 2015.PublishedSylvia Fraser-Lu & Donald Stadtner (eds.), Buddhist Art of Myanmar, New York, 2015, pp.210-1, no.63.ProvenanceThe Krannich Collection, VirginiaAcquired from Amavaradi, Chiang Mai in 1994