?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000
(MYANMAR / BURMA -- SKETCHBOOKS.) Group of 3 albums containing ethnographic watercolor portraits of local peoples, market scenes,and festivities of the Shan State's Kengtung region.
"Kengtung Types" - 2 volumes. 34 pages of ink and gouache drawings. Oblong 8vo, 7 1/2x11 1/2 inches, original slightly worn blue cloth; typewritten titles pasted to upper covers (one label partially lost), typewritten index and explanation sheets pasted to inside covers; minor scattered soiling.
"Kengtung Occasions" - Book II only. 30 pages of ink and watercolor drawings. Oblong 8vo, 7 1/4x10 1/4 inches, original calf-backed cloth boards, spine defective; typewritten title pasted to upper cover (partially torn), typewritten index and explanation sheet pasted to inside cover; minor scattered soiling. Kengtung, Shan State, Burma (Myanmar), 1908
"These pictures were drawn at my request in 1908 by a Hkön artist of Kengtung, the sketch books being provided." - from the typewritten title-labels with ink signature, possibly reading "Ri'd [Richard] Phillimore."
Wonderful bespoke souvenir-type albums for an early 20th-century visitor to Kengtung in the eastern region of Shan State, Myanmar (formerly Burma). Each plate is captioned in Shan script and corresponds with the English explanation on the typed index leaf.
The "Types" albums depict tribal villagers and hill people in various colorful dress with personal effects such as smoking pipes, parasols, weapons and hunting instruments, as well as several representations of goods production and farming.
The drawings in the "Occasions" volume are generally more thematic, showing scenes of festivals, processions, and ceremonies, lighting fireworks, various sellers of cigars, liquor, noodle soup, and fruits at market, musical entertainment, animal hunting, and other exotic portrayals.
