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

Description

Wearing full masks like this ideal one of a high-born Hindu King (Dalem), dancers from Bali perform their folk-art and ethnic-art dances without speech and use only body language, gestures, movements, and postures to depict the mask’s character. Made from light pulai wood, Hindu Balinese-masks (topeng) dance honors and attracts the favor of gods and ancestral spirits and are considered offerings to them, as masks dances are highly valued Hindu-cultural-and-ritual-art and are well attended by all Balinese. In the west mask dancers pretend they are someone else; in Bali, they become the character they are dancing. A mask is said to possess spiritual magic and is seen as powerful and magical as if they were Balinese-wood-carvings placed in a sacred temple, as like temple statues they are considered Hindu-cultural-and ritual-art. A special 5-mask presentation by a single dancer called a topeng pajegan often includes topeng dalem set in an outer temple courtyard considered sacred. There, the dancer changes masks and costumes with the audience watching and executes five very different personalities. Masks presented there are Indonesian-woodcarvings that may be derived from the Hindu epics the Ramayana and Mahabharata on distinctive occasions such as an odalan, the yearly celebration 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