Indonesian gold exhibition now on in Paris

Indonesian gold exhibition now on in Paris

By Kunang Helmi-Picard

PARIS (JP): A total of 71 artifacts belonging to the National
Museum in Jakarta, mainly made of gold, are on display in Paris
until the end of July.

As the existence of Indonesian jewelry and other objects in
precious metals has been almost completely ignored by the
European public up to the present day, Indonesia's 50th
anniversary is a fitting occasion to introduce the French to a
representative selection.

The star attraction of the exhibition Gold of the Indonesian
Archipelago is undoubtedly the spectacular golden Ramayana dish
discovered at Plosokuning, Wonoboyo. Placed at the front of the
show, visitors cannot fail to gasp in admiration at the artistry
of Javanese goldsmiths around the beginning of the 10th century.
The exile of Rama and the kidnapping of Sita are depicted
realistically through a special hammering technique on the oval
body of the dish. Only after the delicate work of the goldsmiths
was completed was the dish coaxed into its final elongated four-
lobed form.

Edi Sedyawati, Director General of Culture at the Indonesian
Ministry of Education and Culture, and Suwati Kartiwa, director
of the National Museum, oversaw the transportation of the
valuable exhibits. Both attended the opening of the show at the
Guimet Museum on May 4. Also present were French Minister of
Culture Jacques Toubon and Indonesian Ambassador to France S.
Wiryono. The exhibition is one of a series of events in France
commemorating 50 years of Indonesian independence.

The show is divided into three sections: sculpture, archeology
and ethnography. Visitors to the opening of the show were treated
to excellent introductory explanations by Madame Girard-Geslan
who was until recently posted in Jakarta with her husband, the
former French ambassador to Indonesia. Girard-Geslan is also an
author of the excellently-written and well-illustrated French
catalog accompanying the exhibition, together with Edi Sedyawati,
Thierry Zephin, Martowikrido Wahyono and Suhardini.

The sculptures are in gold, or in bronze gilded with gold, and
represent gods and goddesses of ancient Java, such as Shiva and
his spouse Parvati standing united on a pedestal of a gold lotus
base on a silver box. These 20-centimeter-high gold statues,
which date from the 10th Century, were discovered in a grotto of
Mount Seplawan in Central Java, together with other objects which
were placed in a bronze vessel under an altar. A tiny golden
lingga and yoni statue is richly ornamented with plant motifs.
Symbolizing male and female, it dates from the 13th Century and
was discovered in Pucang, near Malang, in East Java.

A 34-cm high Vishnu standing on a lotus flower is depicted on
an oval golden plaque discovered in Gemuruh, said to date from
the 9th Century. Vishnu is richly ornamented, wearing a necklace
with pearls, similar to the bracelets on the four arms, together
with armbands and encircling rings around his ankles. His dhoti
is visibly held up by a metal chain belt complete with an ornate
buckle. Attentive observers can also perceive a miniature garuda
in anthropomorphic form standing at Vishnu's right side, holding
a serpent in his hands. Another statue, discovered in Gemuruh
near Wonosobo dating from the 9th Century, is represented on a
1mm thick gold plaque which is 20.5 cm in height: Shiva Mahadevi
standing in high relief is displayed with four arms holding a
rosary, a fly swatter, a trident and a vase.

Other statues include several buddhas in gold or gilded
bronze, one 24cm-high buddha in gold dating from the 8th Century
discovered in Manyargading in Jepara, Central Java. Another 10cm-
high statue of Aksobhya in gold is younger, dating from between
the 10th and 11th Centuries and found on the slopes of Mount
Wilis at Combre, Kediri, Central Java. The halo, or oval
sirascakra behind the head, is strikingly decorated with gold
flames and his right shoulder is left bare by the simple costume
reaching to the ankles. Yet another buddha found at Combre also
displays Indian features which, together with the fact that the
form of the pedestal and the petals adorning it are unusual for
Indonesian sculpture, suggests that they may have been sent to
Java from India.

Perhaps the most spectacular statue of the show is the bronze
Avalokitesvara, plated in silver and gold. It was discovered in
1855 by a peasant digging a ditch in Tekaran, Wonogiri, Central
Java, and dates from the period between the 8th and 9th
Centuries. The nearly one-meter-high bronze figure is depicted
standing, but the legs below the knee have, unfortunately, been
lost. Although the four arms are also broken below the elbows,
two lower arms complete with hands were discovered by Jan Fontein
in 1989. Fontein found them in the collection of the Radyapustaka
Museum in Surakarta while he preparing the exhibition Sculpture
of Indonesia for the 1990-1991 Festival of Indonesia in the
United States. Technically, the statue was created with the help
of a special method entailing a framework of iron, included in
the core of the clay form, before the metal was cast. Then the
silver plate was applied, with the finishing touches in gold
completing the fine ornamentation of the statue.

Ritual objects

The archeological section includes both ritual objects and
jewelry discovered over the past ten years. The Ramayana dish
already mentioned is part of the treasures of Wonoboyo discovered
in October 1990 in Plosokuning, Central Java, and displayed
outside Indonesia for the first time. These antique objects in
silver and gold were found in an enormous round bronze container
and five ceramic Tang jars, all covered by a layer of lava three
meters thick, hinting at an important volcanic eruption in the
area situated at the foot of Mount Merapi. This may well have
been the cause of the seat of royal power being transferred from
Central to East Java in the period between the 9th and 10th
Centuries. Certain inscriptions point to a king who renounced his
kingdom to become a hermit. This king could have been Sindok, the
last monarch of the Kingdom of Mataram.

The treasures of Wonoboyo include a delicate necklace of 38
gold conical shells; an ornate cover, possibly of a jar,
displaying mammal motifs on a lotus petal background; an
impressive gold elongated brooch set with rock crystal and other
stones; a ceremonial bowl in gold; two armbands, one resembling a
gunungan with the face of a ferocious kala and another covered by
plant motifs, both of which are obviously part of a pair and a
graceful ceremonial ladle with the inscription brat su 9 ma 12 ku
2 ta di ka (the weight of this is 9 suwarna, 12 masa and 2
kupang).

The organizers decided to round off the display with about
twenty prestigious objects, including two magnificent kris
(traditional daggers) which were grouped in the ethnographic
section. Dating from two centuries ago, these include a gold and
silver tobacco container, silver betel utensils, a magnificent
gold kendi (pitcher) and a gold-plated dulang (a wooden utensil
used to husk rice) from Klungkung, Bali. A richly-decorated rebab
(fiddle) and a flute made of tortoise shell, bamboo and gold are
set off by a round gold prada shield from Madura. The only
ceramic piece in this show is a covered bowl which was discovered
in Goa, Sulawesi, and originates from Vietnam. It is covered by a
network of silver, overlayed with gold.