Arts
Historically, Burmese art was based on Buddhist or Hindu cosmology and myths. There are several regional styles of Buddha images, each with certain distinctive characteristics. For example, the Mandalay style, which developed in the late 1800s, consists of an oval-shaped Buddha with realistic features, including naturally curved eyebrows, smaller but still prominent ears, and a draping robe. There are 10 traditional arts, called pan sè myo (ပန်းဆယ်မျိုး), listed as follows:
- Blacksmith (ပန်းပဲ ba-bè)
- Woodcarving (ပန်းပု ba-bu)
- Goldsmith (ပန်းထိမ် ba-dein)
- Stucco relief (ပန်းတော့ pandaw)
- Masonry (ပန်းရန် pa-yan)
- Stone carving (ပန်းတမော့ pantamaw)
- Turnery (ပန်းပွတ် panbut)
- Painting (ပန်းချီ bagyi)
- Lacquerware (ပန်းယွန်း panyun)
- Bronze casting (ပန်းတဉ်း badin)
In addition to the traditional arts are silk weaving, pottery, tapestry making, gemstone engraving, and gold leaf making. Temple architecture is typically of brick and stucco, and pagodas are often covered with layers of gold leaf while monasteries tend to be built of wood (although monasteries in cities are more likely to be built of modern materials). A very common roofing style in Burmese architecture is called pyatthat (ပြာသာဒ်), which is a multi-tiered and spired roof.
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Burma
Famous quotes containing the word arts:
“The great end of all human industry is the attainment of happiness. For this were arts invented, sciences cultivated, laws ordained, and societies modelled, by the most profound wisdom of patriots and legislators. Even the lonely savage, who lies exposed to the inclemency of the elements and the fury of wild beasts, forgets not, for a moment, this grand object of his being.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)
“If we will admit time into our thoughts at all, the mythologies, those vestiges of ancient poems, wrecks of poems, so to speak, the world’s inheritance,... these are the materials and hints for a history of the rise and progress of the race; how, from the condition of ants, it arrived at the condition of men, and arts were gradually invented. Let a thousand surmises shed some light on this story.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Having a thirteen-year-old in the family is like having a general-admission ticket to the movies, radio and TV. You get to understand that the glittering new arts of our civilization are directed to the teen-agers, and by their suffrage they stand or fall.”
—Max Lerner (b. 1902)