Spirit house figure of a humped bull

Object Details

• Provenance

  To 1970

  Kammearn, Ayutthaya, to 1970 [1]

  From 1970 to 2005

  Sarah M. and Konrad Bekker, purchased from Kammearn in Ayutthaya in 1970 [2]

  From 2005

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, given by Sarah M. Bekker, Arlington, VA, in 2005

  Notes:

  [1] The donor, Dr. Sarah Bekker, is a respected scholar of Southeast Asian art. With her husband, Konrad Bekker, an Economics Officer with the U.S. Department of State, she lived in India, Burma, and Thailand, where the Bekkers pursued a shared deep interest in the arts. The objects in their gift were acquired in Thailand between 1964 and 1971; this object was purchased from a vendor named Kamnearn in Ayutthaya

  in July 1970.

  In 1964 Dr. Bekker received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from George Washington University, on a topic relating to Burmese concepts of duty, obligation, and "face." She has lectured and written widely, especially on Burma, and for several years she led study tours to Mainland Southeast Asia for the Smithsonian Associates. The Bekkers' collection of Burmese art forms the core of the Burmese art collection at the Center for Burma Studies, Northern Illinois University, and other gifts reside in the art museum at Denison University and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. See Louise A. Cort, Acquisition Consideration form justification, April 21, 2005.

  [2] See note 1.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Taking Shape: Ceramics in Southeast Asia (April 1, 2007 to December 4, 2011)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Kammearn

  Sarah M. Bekker (1923-2013)

  Konrad Bekker (1911-1981)

• Origin

  Sawankhalok kilns, Si Satchanalai, Sukhothai province, North-central Thailand

• Credit Line

  Gift of Sarah M. Bekker

• Type

  Sculpture

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1200s, 1300s

• Name

  Bekker, Konrad, Bekker, Sarah M., Kammearn

• Place

  Sukhothai province, Si Satchanalai, Sawankhalok kilns, Thailand

• Topic

  Unglazed, Art, Sukhothai period (ca. 1219/1243 - 1378), Ayutthaya period (1351 - 1767), Stoneware, Bulls, Southeast Asian Art, Sawankhalok ware

• Culture

  Southeast Asians

• Object Type

  Sculpture