Vintage Mask of a King (Topeng Dalem), Bali (1301-32JBE) $110

Description

Wearing a full mask of an ideal high-born Hindu king (dalem), dancers from Bali perform folk-art and ethnic-art dances without speech using only body language, gestures and movements to depict the mask’s character. Made from light and color-enhancing, easy to carve and durable pulai wood,  Balinese-masks (topeng) honor and attract the favor of gods and ancestral spirits and dances are offerings to them. A highly valued art form, mask dances are well attended by all Balinese. Western mask dancers pretend they are someone else; Balinese become the character they are dancing. Masks possess spiritual magic and are powerful and magical as if they were placed in a sacred temple and are considered sacred Hindu-cultural-and ritual-art. A 5-mask presentation by a single dancer called topeng pajegan often includes a dalem mask danced in an outer temple courtyard where the dancer changes masks and costumes with the audience watching and presents five very different personalities. Masks may be derived from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and Mahabharata celebrated on distinctive occasions such as an odalan, the anniversary of a village temple’s original founding. Others are taken from historical and legendary chronicles of Hindu-Balinese kings called Babad Dalem. This piece is in the VA Hindu-Cultural-and-Ritual Art Collection.

Click here for the blog Indonesian Dance Masks (Topeng): Spiritually Connecting the Community