Kun-Daung: A Betel Leaf Holder
15" High x 7.5 Diameter
Please refer to the Burmese  Lacquerware description on the last page.   Kun-Daung is a Betel Leaf Holder, a popular object to be presented to a monastery. It was used to hold betel leaves & has been a symbol of kingship. Today its use is confined to the shin-byu novitiate ceremony. It is still the custom for the prettiest girl of the family to carry it to the monastery in a grand procession along with other offerings.  
It is decorated with red gilded lacquerware. It is inset with red, orange & clear glass cabochons & flat glass mosaics.  And further decorated with molded relief work in a variety of patterns.
Probably from the 19th cy
Handcrafted in Burma now called Myanmar