Couch

In photographs from the 1800s Burmese and Shan aristocrats and monks sit on couches such as this, Buddha images recline, and deceased monks are laid out. A similar couch, also with inlay of rather large pieces of mirror and with short, curving ball-and-claw legs, is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. It has an apparently original green velvet cushion. The Asian Art Museum's couch had lost its cushion; a new one, also of green velvet, was made for it in 2008.

This couch was once owned by the New York interior designer Rose Cumming (1887-1968), and it can be seen in old photos of a room in her residence. Doris Duke may have known her, or perhaps have engaged her services, and eventually bought the couch from her.