figur, skulptur

Skulptur av skuret och bemålat trä. Skulpturen föreställer en dansande, manlig figur. Mannen har en stor huvudbonad som bakifrån sett ser ut som en fågelmask, Garuda mungkur. Mannen har en keris (dolk), vars fäste saknas, hängande på ryggen.

Enligt Generalkatalogen är dolken av retewel-trä (Nangka-trä heter retewel då det är gammalt) och föreställer en baris-dansare.

Baris är balinesiska krigsdanser. Lansar, svärd och andra vapen förekommer i baris-danserna under tempelfestivalerna. (Holt, Claire. 1967. s.110, 289) Se också: Covarubbias, M. 1973.

Skador:
Högerarm är avbruten på mitten. Det finns en lång lodrät spricka från toppen, ner genom kroppen och ena benet. Ett rektangulärt hål är utskuret i bröstet. Halsen är skadad, där finns ett hål. Vänster ben har varit av i knähöjd men har lagats.

(NS)

Function: Function In a collection of more than 600 objects primarily from Bali, but also from Lombok, Sumatra, Java, and Sulawesi, there is a small wooden sculpture depicting a male dancer. The legs are bent and turned somewhat outwards, the feet, with the weight on the heels, touch the ground in a light springy step. The dancer is about to shift position and has been caught in the moment of movement by an unknown artist. The costume of the figure, the long waist shawl with its ends hanging down in artfully draped folds, the broad neck collar and the large decorative hair ornaments, is carried by many of the dancers in Balinese dance dramas. There are iconographical similarities with dress and decorations of the dolls of the shadow play as well. The sculpture is somewhat damaged, which makes identification harder. It may show a character in one of the dance dramas Gambuh or Arja or show a baris dancer. The dancer has a keris on his back cut from retwel wood. From the back the head has a Garuda like appearance
Acquisition Acquired by Åke Kistner (1908-1976). Between 1937 and 1939 he lived in Bali, where during the two first years, he brought together a sizeable collection which he donated to the Museum of Ethnography, Stockholm.
Why this is a masterpiece
This particular sculpture has been chosen as an example of small wooden sculptures from Bali exemplifying that art before it became popular with tourists and sculptures were turned out in large quantities for the tourist market. It has been chosen despite the fact that it was pretty damaged and slightly repaired when acquired: a broken arm, a crack right through the sculpture as well as some other damages. The value of an object for an ethnographic museum is not necessarily that it is in a mint condition.
History of the Object
History before the acquisition made by Åke Kistner not known. Since 1938 it has been in the Museum of Ethnography. (Virtual Collection of Masterpieces, http://masterpieces.asemus.museum/Default.aspx)