Object Details
Culture
Burma
Date
19th-20th century
Medium
Wood, lacquer, and gold
Dimensions
1 3/4 × 22 1/2 × 5 1/4 inches (4.4 × 57.2 × 13.3 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Doris Duke’s Southeast Asian Art Collection
Object
Number
2003.045.011
Kammavaca manuscripts, considered to be among the most sacred of Burmese religious documents, contai(…)
Kammavaca manuscripts, considered to be among the most sacred of Burmese religious documents, contain excerpts from Buddhist texts regarding the ordination and conduct of monks and are usually donated to a monastery by the family of a monk to celebrate his ordination. The Kammavaca is the most ornate of the palm leaf and paper manuscript traditions of Myanmar (formerly Burma); wooden covers can be decorated with gold, silver, and occasionally with mother-of-pearl inlay. The script is an archaic form of Pali lettering called “tamarind seed” and the ink used by the scribe is thick black lacquer.
