Product Description

Antique Sumba Madaka 1

Material: Bronze
Style: West Sumba, Indonesia
Size: Height 5.5 cm, Width 8.25 cm
Order Number: MHSASMM1

Madaka (also called mendaka) are ritual objects found only in West Sumba. They are the rarest and most sacred of heirlooms. The oldest versions could date back 5 or 6 centuries.It is not clear if they were used as an earring or pendant or both.

They are asymmetrical versions of the omega shape, with a row of radiating spokes. One of the two finials on each side of the opening protrudes more than the other and is similar in this respect to the other open oval forms, like the Batak sitepal and duri-duri earrings. The overall shape resembles a seashell.

The madaka may be a stylised naga dragon – the radiating spokes are its spine and the opening  is its mouth.

The symbolic omega open oval form appears in a variety of ornamentation. It goes back to Neolithic Taiwan in about 500 BC in the jade earrings of the Austronesian people and is found throughout Southeast Asia and mirrors the Austronesian diaspora. The greatest variety in form and size are in Indonesia.

The form symbolises the female genitalia which itself symbolises fertility and fecundity.

There are similar examples in Gold Jewellery of the Indonesian Archipelago, Anne Richter and Bruce Carpenter, Editions Didier Millet 2011, page 152.

Please ask for the price (or make an offer).