18th/19th Century Burmese Nat Wooden Sculpture

Ancient Burmese wooden sculpture representing one of the 37 Nat, guardian spirits of religion.

• This is probably the Nat Min Mahagiri, often depicted with hands clasped in prayer. He is one of the most venerated figures in the Burmese pantheon.
• Burma (Myanmar), 18th/19th century.
• Good condition for its age, vestige of polychromy, particularly on the back.
• Provenance: Estate of Asian art dealer and collector Claude de Marteau
• Sold with certificate of origin.
• A second Nat is also available (see last photo).
• H 75 cm x W 18 cm x D 13 cm

Nats in the Burmese religious tradition

The Sasana Nats are protective figures integrated into the Burmese religious tradition. The traditional pantheon counts 37 Nats; they continue to be venerated in Burma (Myanmar) through pilgrimage sites, temples, shrines, and festivals. Nats have very human traits, desires, and needs. They are often described as imperfect, sometimes capricious, and certain accounts attribute to them behaviours considered taboo in traditional Buddhism.

Unlike the faces of Buddha images, Nat have more expressive features.

The ancient, deeply rooted belief in Nats—tutelary spirits and powers of the invisible world—forms one of the oldest religious substrata of Burmese culture, predating the establishment of Theravāda Buddhism. The latter gradually asserted itself as the dominant tradition and received decisive support in the 11th century under the reign of Anawrahta, ruler of the Bagan dynasty.

Burmese Nat statues, like this one, reflect this profoundly human dimension. Their faces often display a broader range of emotions than representations of the Buddha, generally more impassive or meditative. Burmese Buddhism integrated them through syncretism, and it is not uncommon to encounter Nat representations in or near temples, even though the figure of the Buddha remains central there.

This traditional Burmese sculpture comes from the collection of Claude de Marteau and is sold with a provenance certificate.