Antique Burmese Marble Nat Riding Horseback
This antique Burmese marble Nat riding horseback is associated within the pantheon of 37 Nats in Burmese folklore. The figure may represent Prince Minye Kyawswa, son of King Minkhaung 1 of Ava, whose campaign against King Razadarit of Pegu ended in his death on the battlefield.
Following the fall of Pagan, the region fractured into regional powers, eventually leading to two main kingdoms: Ava in Upper Burma and Hanthawaddy (Pegu) in Lower Burma. King Minkhaung I (r. 1400–1421) ruled Ava, while King Razadarit (r. 1384–1421) ruled Pegu.
SPECIFICATIONS:
- AGE: 19th – Early 20th Century
- HEIGHT: – 48 cm
- WIDTH: – 46 cm
- DEPTH: – 16cm
- WEIGHT: – 19.10 kg
- #869
- CONDITION: – Brown lacquer coating on base and to the incised decoration on the body, hairline cracks on the ear of the horse and leg and left foot, sword missing.
Antique Burmese Marble Nat Riding Horseback
King Minye Kyanwswa son of King Minkhaung 1st of Burma
Born in 1391, Minye Kyawswa was a military commander who joined his first campaign at thirteen. By 1410, he was leading Ava’s armies in the Forty Years’ War. In 1415, after suffering severe wounds in battle, he was captured and died resisting his captors.
The struggle between Ava and Pegu secured Minye Kyawswa’s place in Burmese tradition. He entered the pantheon of the 37 Nats as Maung Minbyu (“Lord White Shin”), though popular folklore frequently conflates his military legacy with the horse-riding Nat Min Kyawzwa.
