Saya Saw’s royal family portrait

A 19th century Burma Classical painting analysed by Myanmar experts.

The 19th century was a very prolific period for Myanmar’s art. Some Burmese collectors have very valuable paintings, but not many of them do. Most of the pieces are in international museums or private collections abroad.

Artist Saya Saw’s classical painting “Royal Family Portrait” is a case in point. It hangs in the Fukuoka Asian art museum in Japan. This is a masterpiece of the late 19th century, a rare painting and a Myanmar treasure.
Saya Saw created his “Royal family Portrait” with gouache paint applied on a linen cloth. This was rather innovative at the time. Gouache had just arrived from the western world through envoys to the court of King Mindon (1853-78).
The consistency of the paint helped Saya Saw picturing the chatoyant dresses decorated with jewel insignia. The painting is also an accurate depiction of the lifestyle of the royals at that time, surrounded as they are by attendants and helpers, with their palace on the horizon.
Saya Saw was born around 1870 to died in 1910, at a date unknown. He is one of the earliest painters of the courts of Myanmar. He learned his art from Saya Chone, the ultimate master of the time. He depicted the royal families throughout the reign of King Thibaw (1878-85).
Court artists mainly created records of important events and ceremonies explains artist U Tin Win, an art historian and a collector of ancient art and the owner of Beikthano Gallery. “In late 19th century artists started creating small painting around 2 feet x 2.5 feet size,” he says.
“At that time artists created small size painting for ceremonial cremation of monks. People could order around 30 paintings to decorate a pavilion for a monk’s funerals. After being displayed for one or two weeks, the monk’s body was burned and the paintings with it. This is Myanmar tradition of monks’ funerals,” he sighted thinking of the number of paintings he will never get to see. “But some monks kept in their monasteries,” he joyfully bounced back.
After 1965 collectors rediscovered 19th century paintings in villages and Monasteries and started to sell them abroad. Only a few stayed in the country, in local’s collections.
East/ West connection 
Four prominent artists including Saya Chone and Saya Saw left plenty of royal portraits behind them. They are all very similar in style: a king, his wives and offspring, some attendants’ poses, dresses. Only the composition differs a little. One distinctive aspect of this period is the detail of the model’s faces. Interestingly, they often have a touch indigo in the eyes – maybe the influence of western envoy.
The western influence did not stop there. Myanmar artists started using perspective techniques.
Just like rich westerns often ordered portraits in oriental clothing, Burmese royals sometimes asked to have western backgrounds on their portraits – painters integrated western interior decoration pieces like coffee tables. Something the Burmese rulers were not messing with was their attire. In all paintings, they sport royal’s acheiks, a traditional design.
This is the case on Saya Saw’s Royal family portrait. The painting is noticeably bigger (54.7 x 60.2) than the small portraits of the time,
According to Htet Naing Lynn, an antique lover and curator at The Yangon Gallery, Saya Saw represented the queen breast-feed because he wanted to create a nude. Western painters had made it fashionable, but Myanmar culture and society would not have accepted it.
“Our generation wants to preserve these classic paintings,” he says. “But there are not much left in Myanmar.” He also adds that plenty were given as gift to foreign envoys.
When Htet Naing Lynn went to the National Gallery Singapore, he saw Myanmar classical painting including Saya Saw’s paintings. “When I saw Myanmar classical paintings in their Museum, I felt very delighted and proud of Myanmar.
Because other county’s Museum preserved and display Myanmar valuable classical art works in their Museum.”
Indeed, Nakao Tomomichi, a curator of Fukuoka Asian Art Museum says his museum has around 71 Myanmar paintings.
But Htet Naing Lynn says the Burmese should start treasuring their ancient painting too.