The few wooden images that we have from the Pagan period (1044-1287) show the Burmese to be consummate craftsmen of the art of wood carving. The most famous wooden statues are those in the Ananda Temple in the north and south recesses of the central shrine. They stand just over 32  feet high excluding the lotus throne. The face with its well-formed forehead and high cheek-bones, downcast eyes, aquiline nose, small mouth and pointed chin is in typical Pagan style. In keeping with the Pagan schema, the ears do not touch the shoulder and the usnisha (cranial protuberance) is topped by a flame finial. The clothing on the body has a wet appearance and the outer garment looks as if it is part of the arms. There are three folds across the stomach and a line dividing the garment between the legs. The knee caps are visible through the clothing. As in the bronze images, the pleating around the periphery of the robe is stiff and stylised. The hands are raised before the breast in the dharmacakra or preaching position.

Life-sized wooden statues also in the standing position have been recovered from various temples in Pagan. Carved from a single tree trunk, they all wear pointed leaf and bud kirita (crowns) enclosing high coiled chignons, and are adorned with elaborate ear plugs and flame-edged torques. The body is covered in an open robe down to the ankles. All the images in this series hold the right hand stiffly downwards in the varada mudra (boon granting gesture) while the left hand is turned inwards against the breast. It is not known whether these statues portray ordinary bodhisattvas or are crowned Buddha images. It has even been suggested that they could be portrait statues of deceased Pagan royalty.

At least two wooden stelae have survived from the Pagan era, and are now housed in the new Pagan Archaeological Museum. One exquisite example in black teak wood depicts Lord Buddha's Descent from the Tavatimsa heaven. On a round double lotus he stands in the graceful tribhanga (three body-bends) pose with his left leg slightly bent. The left hand, unfortunately broken, touches the robe at the shoulder. A three-faced Brahma sheltering Lord Buddha with an umbrella, stands on Buddha's left, while the god Indra, resplendent in a high crown and ornaments, stands on his right holding an alms bowl. Sariputta, Lord Buddha's disciple, kneels reverently at his feet. The other stele depicts the Buddha flanked by Mogallana and Sariputta, his two chief disciples, who are standing on lotus flowers coming from the mouth of a kirtimukha (lion mask). Lord Buddha's throne is borne on the backs of three lion figures.

With the fall of Pagan in 1287, Burma was plunged into a century of chaos and disorder, and during the Ava period (1364-1752) could not free itself from warfare between the petty kingdoms which had sprung up with the destruction of Pagan. As a result very little in the way of wooden statuary has survived. The few images found naturally followed the tenets applied to bronze and stone sculpture for the period. Unfortunately most have been so extensively repaired that the original style is practically unrecognisable. In Burma it is not regarded as proper to have a damaged or incomplete object of worship, whether it is a pagoda or an image; indeed, it is regarded as a meritorious act to renovate a Buddha image. Even today there are some monks who devote a lot of their time to such tasks. The tendency has been to refurbish the images in the prevailing style without any thought of preserving the original in its entirety. As a consequence much art of the past has been lost.to make their own.

Most wooden and lacquer images seen today date from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, having been made during the Konbaung period (1752-1885), the last dynasty of the Burmese kings. This was a proud era in Burmese history. Its kings through conquest had united all of Burma, Manipur in the east had been subdued and the rival Thai kingdom, centred on Ayudhya, had been razed to the ground in 1767, with the court and much booty being removed to Burma. This newly found strength, unity and self-confidence brought about a flowering of the arts. In this the Burmese were aided by captive Thai artisans who introduced many of the refinements of their culturally more advanced civilisation. The Burmese court, first alternating between the cities of Ava and Amarapura and finally settling in Mandalay, led the way by building sumptuous monasteries and pagodas and commissioning Buddha images of colossal size to fill them. Ministers and other eminent citizens followed suit, building edifices on a smaller scale and stocking them with numerous statues. The demand was not confined to temples, for people liked to perform their daily devotions before an image at home. Because of the availability of raw materials, wooden and lacquer images were made in large quantities. The demand was so great that not all images were made by professional craftsmen. Some people in remote villages were known

Whether the craftsman was an amateur or professional, he followed the traditional schema for carving prescribed in the ancient Pali texts. One such book found in Burma laid down the following instructions for carving a Buddha image: "The chin of the image must be like that of the king lion, which is round and not pointed. The cheeks must be thick and round like the full moon; they should be extended from the chin to the ears. The neck must have three sections. The chest must be thick like a lion. In carving a Buddha image, it should have a well-filled appearance when one looks at it from every corner."

Before discussing the different types of eighteenth and nineteenth century images found in wood and lacquer, it might be useful to explain in detail the process of making lacquer images, which is much less well known than the wood carving process. The making of lacquer images centred on a group of villages just outside Ye-U township in the Monywa district. The craftsmen were not professional, but were farmers who made images in their spare time.

The villagers first made a rough image from well-kneaded clay. Then a wooden or iron tool called a than-let was used to shape in the basic details. Before the clay image was completely dry, it was smeared with a mixture of water and straw ash. Over this core was laid a plaster of thit-se (lacquer) mixed with finely sifted teak sawdust. Delicate areas such as the eyes, nose and mouth were shaped in detail using the than-let. Once the plaster was hardened, the inner clay core was removed. The plaster had to be cut open to remove the clay from the less accessible areas such as the head and arms. The openings were resealed by a further application of the same plaster, and the image was then covered with another coat of filtered thit-se, this time mixed with the ashes of straw or bran. It was again smoothed with the than-let, then polished with a stone smeared with sesame, and left to dry. Once the lacquer was hardened, the image was washed and again polished with a stone before being varnished with the purest red-brown or black lacquer. It was then ready for the donors to gild.

These images were usually made during the cool season from November to February, which provided the best conditions for drying both the lacquer and the clay core. A man could make thirty to thirty-five images per season. Most were reported as being sold to the Shan States.

In lacquer images the face tends to be triangular to squarish and at first glance somewhat resembles the sixteenth century Ava marble images. The forehead is small but wide and the broad sweeping brows sit well above a long straight nose which terminates in flaring nostrils. The eyes, widely separated from the eyebrows, resemble grains of rice paddy. The nostril lines are prominent and end in a small smiling bow-shaped mouth which looks slightly simpering at times. The large ears touch the shoulders and the boundaries of the ear hole and lobe are marked by embossing or a double line of incising. There is usually a small fillet band separating the hair line from the face. The head and usnisha are generally covered with either small blunt beaded curls which resemble the skin of the jack fruit, or by a cap of sharp spikes often referred to as "Shwebo thorns" or "durian spines" (a comparison with the appearance of a characteristic tropical fruit). There is a hole in the usnisha to accommodate a tall bulb-shaped "wooden finial which is added when the image is complete.

Most images are seated in the earth touching position with fingers all of the same length. The left hand in the lap is sometimes supported underneath by a small prop of lacquer. Clothing ranges from the barest outlines indicated either by incising or embossing, to quite an extensive series of shallow pleats and folds across the chest and raised spirals over the knees. Sometimes the lappet over the left shoulder is embossed with a raised lacquer design which may even be inlaid with glass. There is often a small flap over the right shoulder. Thrones vary greatly from plain rounded pedestals to splendid high waisted stands embossed with lotus petals and other floral decoration. Many are edged with small square or triangular protuberances. Lacquer images, because they are hollow and light, can be made in a wide range of sizes. The smallest images are about 18 inches high while the largest are over six feet. Some of the thrones of the larger images are equipped with rings to aid in handling.
Lacquer has also been widely used on wooden images for decorative purposes. Most wooden images have been given a coat of lacquer, partly to preserve them and also to provide a base for gilding with gold leaf Lacquer mixed with bone ash has provided much of the moulded decoration such as hair, jewelry, borders on clothing and floral motives seen on wooden images. It has also provided the base for the inlay of colored glass and mirror popular on later images. The "Mandalay" style, which has developed since the end of the eighteenth century and was so prevalent in bronze and marble, is often followed in wooden sculpture and occasionally in lacquer.In wood a little more licence has been taken than was the case with stone and bronze sculpture.