For almost a thousand years silversmiths have practiced their craft in Chiang Mai, which was the second capital of the Lanna kingdom which controlled much of northern Thailand around the same time the Sukhothai kingdom was being established. Legend has it that 500 silversmiths and their families fled from Pagan, Burma, to Chiang Mai in the late 13th century to escape the onslaught of the advancing Mongols. At that time, and for several centuries thereafter, silversmiths were considered prizes of war and were often kidnapped by conquering rulers and put to work in the royal household. The Burmese later conquered Chiang Mai, and their influence on Northern Thai Silver has been profound. Both the Burmese, and the Shan states of northern Burma and Thailand, have a long tradition of working silver, and the styles, particularly the floral and flame patterns, Buddhist images, and mythical figures, distinguish it from the silver of the South and Central regions. Shan bowls and boxes often depict the twelve year cycle of life represented by the mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, small snake, horse, goat, monkey, chicken, dog and elephant, in that order. close window