Burmese Tattoo Design Sample Books

This series features two Burmese Tattoo Design Sample Books. The books are accordion folded in a style known as parabaik in Burmese. Both design books feature images of mythological creatures such as, but not limited to, centaurs, sphinxes, hydras, and tigers, and one book also includes text annotations and charts alongside the images. This book is likely a reference for both Buddhist astrology and tattoo designs. Such imagery was considered outside of the Buddhist orthodoxy but was locally popular as talismans of good luck and protection. Tattooing has been practiced in Burmese culture for centuries. While the practice was originally imported from China, since at least the 12th century the tradition of tattooing has been integral to many Burmese ethnic groups, where often boys were tattooed as an initiation into manhood and women's faces were inked to beautify them. Each ethnic group has its own guidelines as to where tattoos are to be placed and the parameters of the designs. These tattoos were often thought to imbue the recipient with the characteristics of the subject of the tattoo. The practice was suppressed beginning in the 1930s under British colonial rule as it was associated with various rebel factions, but traditional designs have been reemerging in modern day Myanmar. A third Burmese sample book is available as part of the Jeff Towns Collection on the History of Tattooing.