Page 343 - The Secret Museum

THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM’S Asian object storage in Blythe House is filled

with lots of objects from among the museums Asian treasures which it doesn’t
permanently display. Anyone who would like to visit can do so by appointment, and
it’s used a fair bit by researchers and designers. The Asian textiles, paintings and
sculptures are stored in other locations in Blythe House, and in the museum itself.

The Asian object store is a large room, but far smaller than some of the
warehouses I’ve been to. It is lined with grey metal and glass cabinets, filled with
things from India, Burma, Tibet, Bali – in fact, from all over Asia. On the walls there
are nineteenth-century copies of the paintings inside the Ajanta caves in India, and

inside the cabinets are armour, shields, jewellery from India, furniture from Burma,
Indian and Southeast Asian sculptures and most of the Tibetan Collection.

In among all these things can be found two golden bees the size of rabbits. They’re
tubby things, with their wings folded on top of their bodies. They are carved from red
wood, lacquered, and gilded all over with crushed-up gold. I saw them in a glass
cabinet, on a shelf, but once upon a time they adorned the Bee Throne in the Glass
Palace in Mandalay, Burma.

The Bee Throne was one of eight thrones in the palace complex (a ninth was just
outside). Each was decorated with its own auspicious and symbolic animal carvings.

There were the Lion Throne, the Duck Throne, the Conchshell Throne, the Elephant
Throne, the Deer Throne, the Peacock Throne, the Lily Throne and, of course, the
Bee Throne. The most important was the Lion Throne, which had a double door at the
back, so the king could climb into it without being seen clambering up. He sat upon it
to receive his most important subjects, twice a year, when they swore allegiance to
him. The king was protected by a carved sea of magical lions, ancestral figures and
worshipping pageboys. The figures enhanced the mystique and prestige of the king,

grounding him in a mythical, magical world. The carvings were also a practical way
to put off any potential assassins, particularly superstitious ones. A lot of the rulers of
Burma met sticky ends, but none while sitting upon his throne.

The Bee Throne, on which the big bees I saw lived, was placed in the Glass
Palace, the most beautiful part of the Mandalay complex, and it was where the king
and queen sat to welcome in the New Year. The princesses sat there too, protected
by bees, when they had important ceremonies to take part in: maybe they were having
their ears pierced that day, or perhaps they were receiving gifts – say, an orchard, an

elephant or a servant – bestowed upon them by their parents.

When the throne was in the Glass Palace there were 36 bees, just like these two in
their glass cabinet in London. Now, only the two before me in the V&A storage
survive. They are kept company by an extraordinarily beautiful praying pageboy and
a slightly bonkers camari, a mythical creature invented by the Burmese. It has cloven
hooves, wings, a snub nose, pointy ears, a painted red tongue, tufts on its head,
antlers and a goatee beard. Each of the four creatures is golden and red, because the
gold has rubbed off in parts over the years to show the red lacquer base beneath. The