Glossary
The language of the craft
Terms you'll meet across the collection — a small dictionary of Burmese technique.
Yun lacquer
A Bagan technique of building up many thin layers of lacquer, each cured and polished before the next, producing a deep, durable surface.
Shwe cha
Gold leaf applied by hand in the Mandalay tradition, burnished to a soft, living sheen.
Lacquerware
Objects coated in the sap of the lacquer tree, layered and polished over a bamboo or wood frame.
Bamboo frame
The woven or turned bamboo structure beneath the lacquer — the hidden backbone of the piece.