FROM CARD: "A HIGH PEDESTALLED WOODEN BOWL, OUTSIDE COVERED WITH A FINE PATTERN OF CUT ABOLONE SHELL INLAID IN A BLACK SUBSTANCE (LESS DURABLE THAN REAL LACQUER)." NOTE: THIS OBJECT IS NUMBERED 4018. HOWEVER IT IS INVENTORIED UNDER THE 48 NUMBER. WHEN REMOVED FROM EXHIBIT THE NUMBER SHOULD BE FIXED.
Illustrated and described in McQuail, Lisa. 1997. "Treasures of Two Nations: Thai Royal Gifts to the United States of America" Smithsonian Institution. p. 70
This object was on display at National Museum of Natural History exhibit "Objects of Wonder", 2017 - 2025. Identified there as a presentation bowl, wood, lacquer, and shell. The bowl's lacquer coating is made from the sap of the Burmese lacquer tree, Melanorrhoea usitata, which grows in the seasonally dry forests of Myanmar and Thailand. The bowl's shimmering inlay comes from the Green Turban snail, Turbo marmoratus. Its unpolished shell highlights the painstaking effort of the craftsmen who figured out how to uncover and use the iridescent nacre.
