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A Royal Collection of Bronze Model Boats and Soldiers from Eighteenth-Century Burma

The Defence Services Museum in Yangon (Rangoon), in Myanmar (Burma), is not well patronized by overseas visitors. Some may have been put off after viewing the dusty cabinets of the poorly resourced National Museum. Others might assume that a military museum will just feature old guns and trucks, of interest only to militaria enthusiasts. However, it’s a pity to miss this museum. Although a civilian parliament was elected in 2010, the military remains predominant in Myanmar politics and government. The Defence Services Museum provides a detailed portrayal of the world view and aspirations of the regime. It has not stinted on resources to do so. And amid the visualization of national history, below the portraits of military chiefs looking proudly over dioramas of factories and dam sites, past the guns, tanks, and aircraft that will indeed appeal to militaria buffs, is a fine collection of model soldiers, cannon, and boats (Figure 1, 4–12). These elegant bronzes belonged originally to King Alaungpaya. They have some tales to tell about the culture and society of his time. When the British colonized Burma in the nineteenth century, many people in the outside world became familiar with the then-capital, Mandalay, not the least because of Kipling’s popular image of the “road to Mandalay,” the Irrawaddy River that linked the inland city with the sea. The British deposed the last king of the Konbaung dynasty at Mandalay in 1885. This dynasty had been founded more than