Antique Majapahit Terracotta Head, Java, Indonesia (1137)

Description

This miniature terracotta head is from the powerful Majapahit Empire considered one of Southeast Asian greatest empires which spanned the 13th-16th centuries.  Hindu based, it centered in Java and extended from present-day Indonesia to Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Southern-Thailand, and the Philippines. Trowulan, the empire’s capital, is now an archaeological site source of many Majapahit buildings. These architectural wonders were decorated with intricate deeply carved bas-reliefs and other carved and incised elements portraying Javanese folklore and stories from the Hindu Sanskrit epics the Ramayana and Mahabharata. In the 2nd half of the 20th century, terracotta artifacts including terracotta figural parts were unearthed in East Java near the capital. Some scholars believe these figures were effigies and intentionally decapitated as religious offerings, while others feel they were secular objects discarded when they were broken. This piece is likely a fragment from a large terracotta frieze which, as many, were small, decapitated heads.  It has Javanese facial features and a naturalistic expression, hairstyles and large round coiled earrings, possibly suggesting upper classes status. In very good condition and mounted on a metal stand.

Sources

Soedarmadji J H Darmais, Majapahit Terracotta, 2012, p. 88, BAB Publishing