This large and heavy piece stands propped up on the mantel shelf above our fireplace. (The image ought to enlarge if you click on it - but in this case I'm not certain it will.)
I bought it at a yard sale some 8 years ago. I'd spotted it from the car, it was propped up under a tree in a huge front yard, in a very posh district of town. It called to me! The couple selling it told me, as we chatted, that they had been in the oil business, and had lived in Burma and Borneo. This is one of several items they brought back. It's called a "kalaga"- a Burmese art-form, sometimes incorporating Thai themes. Kalagas are tapestries, individually created from hundreds or thousands of beads, stones and sequins. Mostly they are used as loose wall-hangings, but the couple from whom I bought this had had it beautifully framed. It depicts 5 (Thai?) musicians - at first we called 'em our "Spice Girls", but on reflection , the female musician group "Bond" is nearer the mark, even though they number only four. I 'd resolved not inflict a Spice Girls video on passing readers anyway - but "Bond" is rather good:
I bought it at a yard sale some 8 years ago. I'd spotted it from the car, it was propped up under a tree in a huge front yard, in a very posh district of town. It called to me! The couple selling it told me, as we chatted, that they had been in the oil business, and had lived in Burma and Borneo. This is one of several items they brought back. It's called a "kalaga"- a Burmese art-form, sometimes incorporating Thai themes. Kalagas are tapestries, individually created from hundreds or thousands of beads, stones and sequins. Mostly they are used as loose wall-hangings, but the couple from whom I bought this had had it beautifully framed. It depicts 5 (Thai?) musicians - at first we called 'em our "Spice Girls", but on reflection , the female musician group "Bond" is nearer the mark, even though they number only four. I 'd resolved not inflict a Spice Girls video on passing readers anyway - but "Bond" is rather good:
