The Republic of Indonesia consists of more than 17,000 islands in Southeast Asia. The VA collection features pieces from Bali, Java, Lombok, Kalimantan (Borneo) and Timor. Items include wood carvings, architectural ornaments, masks, puppets, and other spiritual and decorative objects.
Showing 1–12 of 19 results
Small solid clay earthenware terracotta figures have been found in many Majapahit period sites and were finished with carved or incised decorations. The powerful Majapahit Empire spanning the 13th-16th centuries was Hinduism based, centered on the island of Java and extended from present-day Indonesia to Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Southern-Thailand, and the Philippines. Trowulan was the…
Small solid clay earthenware terracotta figures have been found in many Majapahit period sites primarily finished with carved and/or incised decorations. The powerful Majapahit Empire spanning the 13th-16th centuries was Hindu based, centered on the island of Java and extended from present-day Indonesia to Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Southern-Thailand, and the Philippines. Trowulan was the empire’s…
This exceptional polychrome mask (topeng in Java, tapel in Bali) of Jatayu blends Balinese ethnic and folk-art with Hindu cultural traditions. Indonesia was part of the larger Hindu Majapahit Empire (1293-1527), is now a Muslim majority but Bali remains mostly Hindu. Balinese masks are often made from a single piece of local pulai wood whose…
In Bali, Indonesia, Hindu villages have a sacred collection of woodcarvings in the form of Balinese masks (topeng) danced as offerings to the gods with a gamelan percussion orchestra. Balinese dance masks are endowed with magic (tenget) ), especially. the 2 central to Balinese mythology, culture and their past of animism:Â Rangda and Barong. Barong…
Balinese carvings and masks are ethnic folk art and a blend of Hinduism and its initial animism. Most masks made in Bali are from pulai wood that rarely cracks and is easier to carve. As it is not native to Lombok, carvers there use a variety of woods some of which were dense with others light….
Most jauk keras (strong, scary) masks of a giant are often red or orange to reinforce a volatile dance with jerky movements. This jauk manis (good, sweet) mask dance is a more controlled, regulated and enacted with more calm and human movements. Personally collected in Bali in the 1970s, it is in excellent condition with expected minor scratches and paint losses.
Influenced by Islam for centuries, Javanese theater in Indonesia is stylized, didactic and full of central characters said to be cultural and historic icons of morality. Mask drama theater (Topeng Wayang) in Java is dominated by the conservative central Javanese palace courts (kraton) of Surakarta, Solo and Jogjakarta (Yogyakarta) which have long supported mask makers,…
This rare, vintage spirit mask is from Timor in Indonesia. Their animism is characterized by ritual exchanges between individuals or social groups with ancestral and fertility spirits having a close reciprocal link between the deceased and the secular world as ancestors require sustenance, respect and attention (i.e. offerings), while humans seek advice, good fortune, health…
This Dalem is a traditional folk-art and ethnic mask (topeng) from Bali made from pulai wood of a Hindu king (Dalem). He stares directly at the viewer while his high cheeks help express his poise and the ability to remain cool in a crisis. This is a fine example of a gifted carver able to…
This beautiful carving is too large to be a traditional dance mask, but is still a wonderful and fine folk art creation by an amazingly talented artisan. When it was collected in the 1970s, it was identified by the Balinese seller as Dayu or Dahyu, a high-caste Brahmana woman from the first Balinese caste. She…
The culture, rituals, tribal and ethnic art of the Dayak (Dyak) of Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia is a mix of shamanism, animism and ancestor worship. Dyak festival masks worn on the face or large ones attached to a costume repel malicious spirits from entering communal spaces, insure village safety, protect babies in their carriers and defend…
The Dayak (Dyak) people live on the Island of Kalimantan in the Indonesia part of Borneo and their hudoq masks are offerings to attract gods, ancestors and sacred rice spirits that assure the fertility of rice and protect villages. They are tribal, folk and ethnic objects that may not only worn on the face; they…
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