Material: Silver
Style: Flores, Indonesia
Size: Height 2.5 cm, Width 1.75 cm
Order Number: MHSAFE21

Flores is a long narrow island, with central mountains, and 12 ethnic societies. Their jewelry is extravagant.

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.

19th century or earlier.

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

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Material: Silver
Style: Central or East Flores, Indonesia
Size: Height 6.5 cm, Width 8.25 cm
Order Number: MHSAFT1

Flores is a long narrow island, with central mountains, and 12 ethnic societies. It was named by the Portuguese after the flowers on the east coast. Their jewelry is extravagant.

This double-axe pendant from Flores is called a taka in the Lio language. They resemble Dong Song ceremonial bronze axes. They are worn around the neck or on the forehead.

Taka are among the most treasured heirlooms, handed down from generation to generation. They belong to the ancestors and are only occasionally used as marriage gifts. They are stored away and blood sacrifices are carried out before they are looked at or worn.

The shape is an elaborate open oval, the ends of which cross over each other and are beaten flat.

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, pages 208 – 209.

Early – mid 20th century.

Map of Flores.

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

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Material: Gold
Style: Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia
Size: Height 4.5 cm and 4.75 cm, Width 3.5 cm and 3.5 cm
Order Number: MHSATE1

The Tanimbar Islands are located in the South Moluccas and comprise over 60 islands which are 135 miles long and 70 miles wide. They depend on boats as their main transport.

Solid, pear-shaped gold earrings known as robot earrings (for obvious reasons) or lelbutir. Even the local people call the appendages ‘arms’ and ‘legs’. The bottom parts are flat, instead of being round as is usual. They were used in a gift exchange between marriage partners. The wife-takers gave the earrings to the bride’s family.

There is a similar pair of earrings in the Collection of the Barbier-Mueller Museum of Geneva shown in Power and Gold, Jewelry from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, Prestel-Verlag, 1985, page 302.

19th century or early 20th century.

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

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Material: Gold
Style: Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia
Size: Height 3.75 cm and 3.5 cm, Width 3.5 cm and 3.5 cm
Order Number: MHSATE2

The Tanimbar Islands are located in the South Moluccas and comprise over 60 islands which are 135 miles long and 70 miles wide. They depend on boats as their main transport.

Solid, pear-shaped gold earrings known as robot earrings (for obvious reasons) or lelbutir. Even the local people call the appendages ‘arms’ and ‘legs’. They were used in a gift exchange between marriage partners. The wife-takers gave the earrings to the bride’s family.

There is a similar pair of earrings in the Collection of the Barbier-Mueller Museum of Geneva shown in Power and Gold, Jewelry from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, Prestel-Verlag, 1985, page 302.

19th century or early 20th century.

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

The post Antique Tanimbar Earrings 2 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Gold
Style: Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia
Size: Height 3.25 cm and 2.5 cm, Width 3 cm and 2.75 cm
Order Number: MHSATE3

The Tanimbar Islands are located in the South Moluccas and comprise over 60 islands which are 135 miles long and 70 miles wide. They depend on boats as their main transport.

Solid, pear-shaped gold earrings known as robot earrings (for obvious reasons) or lelbutir. Even the local people call the appendages ‘arms’ and ‘legs’. They were used in a gift exchange between marriage partners. The wife-takers gave the earrings to the bride’s family.

There is a similar pair of earrings in the Collection of the Barbier-Mueller Museum of Geneva shown in Power and Gold, Jewelry from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, Prestel-Verlag, 1985, page 302.

19th century or early 20th century.

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

The post Antique Tanimbar Earrings 3 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Gold
Style: Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia
Size: Height 3.25 cm and 3.5 cm, Width 2.5 cm and 2.5 cm
Order Number: MHSATE4

The Tanimbar Islands are located in the South Moluccas and comprise over 60 islands which are 135 miles long and 70 miles wide. They depend on boats as their main transport.

Solid, pear-shaped gold earrings known as robot earrings (for obvious reasons) or lelbutir. Even the local people call the appendages ‘arms’ and ‘legs’. They were used in a gift exchange between marriage partners. The wife-takers gave the earrings to the bride’s family.

There is a similar pair of earrings in the Collection of the Barbier-Mueller Museum of Geneva shown in Power and Gold, Jewelry from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, Prestel-Verlag, 1985, page 302.

19th century or early 20th century.

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

The post Antique Tanimbar Earrings 4 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Gold
Style: Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia
Size: Height 22, Width 11 cm
Order Number: MHSATE6

The Tanimbar Islands are located in the South Moluccas and comprise over 60 islands which are 135 miles long and 70 miles wide. They depend on boats as their main transport.

The necklace (mase) is a powerful face of an ancestor, intensely gazing ahead, wearing a helmet with ‘s’ shaped decorations and a prominent crescent evoking buffalo horns,  almond eyes and a sharp elongated nose.

Such masks were hung from the head with the pendant resting on the forehead and designed to evoke awe. They were worn by women.

There is a wide variety of styles as shown in the examples in Ethnic Jewellery from Indonesia, Continuity and Evolution, Bruce Carpenter, Editions Didier Millet 2011, pages 304-309 and

Gold Jewelry of the Indonesian Archipelago, Anne Richter and Bruce Carpenter, Editions Didier Millet 2011, pages 65-68.

19th – early 20th century.

Map of Tanimbar.

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

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Material: Gold and silver alloy
Style: Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia
Size: Height 3, Width 3 cm
Order Number: MHSATE5

The Tanimbar Islands are located in the South Moluccas and comprise over 60 islands which are 135 miles long and 70 miles wide. They depend on boats as their main transport.

Pendant or earring or house treasure object decorated with spirals and 2 crouching figures facing a house structure. The position of the humans is similar to wood carvings from the same area. Such a piece would be a family heirloom symbolising the power of the house and its position in the village.

Omega-shaped, these are the furthest eastern examples of gold being used in Indonesia for the omega form.

There is a similar one in the Collection of the Barbier-Mueller Museum of Geneva shown in Power and Gold, Jewelry from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, Prestel-Verlag, 1985, page 227.

18th – 19th century.

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

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Material: Bone
Style: Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia
Size: Height 18 cm, Width 29 cm
Order Number: MHST1

The Tanimbar Islands are located in the South Moluccas and comprise over 60 islands which are 135 miles long and 70 miles wide.

They depend on boats as their main transport.

Noble families create glorious stylised ancestor altars to deified and recent ancestors. The truncated, hourglass, inscribed body has wide outstretched arms in the shape of a curved boat.  The ears have hanging earrings. At the edges are curling finials of radiating hooks. These honour the founding ancestors and are adorned with jewelry.

The larger ones, more than a metre and a half in height, support the central beam of the house. This is the centre of the house where children sleep. The ancestors determine men’s hunting and women’s fertility. Family heirlooms also include skulls, bones and wooden effigies.

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

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Material: Bone
Style: Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia
Size: Height 25 cm, Width 25 cm
Order Number: MHST2

The Tanimbar Islands are located in the South Moluccas and comprise over 60 islands which are 135 miles long and 70 miles wide.

They depend on boats as their main transport.

Noble families create glorious stylised ancestor altars to deified and recent ancestors. The truncated, hourglass, inscribed body has wide outstretched arms in the shape of a curved boat.  The ears have hanging earrings. At the edges are curling finials of radiating hooks. These honour the founding ancestors and are adorned with jewelry.

The larger ones, more than a metre and a half in height, support the central beam of the house. This is the centre of the house where children sleep. The ancestors determine men’s hunting and women’s fertility. Family heirlooms also include skulls, bones and wooden effigies.

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

The post Tanimbar Altar 2 (Tavu) appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Wood, beads
Style: Tanimbar Islands, Indonesia
Size: Height 27 cm, Width 6.5 cm, Depth 8 cm;  Height 25.5 cm, Width 6 cm, Depth 8.5 cm
Order Number: MHST3

The Tanimbar Islands are located in the South Moluccas and comprise over 60 islands which are 135 miles long and 70 miles wide.

In animist Southeast Asia the origin of human life is thanks to the ancestors, as are all skills, knowledge, materials, prosperity and fertility. It is vital to remember and honour them.

Ancestor figures are created as a focus to venerate the founding forbears.

Please ask the price (or make an offer).

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