Material: Gold alloy, stained red
Style: Makassar, Sulawesi, Indonesia
Size: Height 6.5 cm and 6.5 cm, Width 2 cm and 2 cm
Order Number: MHSAME1

Long ear-cylinders (subang) decorated with filigree.

There is a similar pair of earrings in The Jewelry of Southeast Asia, Ann Richter, Thames & Hudson, 2000, page 220.

Late 19th century or early 20th century.

Map of Sulawesi.

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

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

Material: Gold, palm leaf
Style: Makassar, Sulawesi, Indonesia
Size: Height 8.5 cm, Length 19 cm
Order Number: MHSAMS1

Songko are Buginese male moslem hats.This one has gold and would have been owned by royalty.

Islam was introduced by Minangkabau missionaries from Sumatra and a history of extensive Malay settlement in the major trading city of Makassar, now Ujung Pandang, in the south.

Makassar, the capital of the kingdom of Gowa, was an important entrepot for cloves and nutmeg traded from the very small islands of  Ternate and Tidore in the Moluccas. The city also became a city of Islamic scholarship.

There is a photograph of a man wearing a similar one in The Jewelry of Southeast Asia, Ann Richter, Thames & Hudson, 2000, page 171.

80-90 years old.

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

The post Antique Makassar Songko 1 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Gold, palm leaf
Style: Makassar, Sulawesi, Indonesia
Size: Height 9 cm, Length 18 cm
Order Number: MHSAMS2

Songko are Buginese male moslem hats. This one has gold and would have been owned by royalty.

Islam was introduced by Minangkabau missionaries from Sumatra and a history of extensive Malay settlement in the major trading city of Makassar, now Ujung Pandang, in the south.

Makassar, the capital of the kingdom of Gowa, was an important entrepot for cloves and nutmeg traded from the very small islands of  Ternate and Tidore in the Moluccas. The city also became a city of Islamic scholarship.

There is a photograph of a man wearing a similar one in The Jewelry of Southeast Asia, Ann Richter, Thames & Hudson, 2000, page 171.

80-90 years old.

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

The post Antique Makassar Songko 2 appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Silver
Style: South Sulawesi, Indonesia
Size: Height 6 cm, Width 5.5 cm
Order Number: MHSASMP1

Worn by pre-pubescent children, often with little else, heart-shaped modesty plates (caping) were believed to protect the young, who were particularly susceptible to sorcery  and wandering spirits.

They were worn from the time that the child could stand on his or her own, that is about 12 to 16 months, until they were fully dressed, but. some still wore them beneath their clothes.

The caping was normally made of gold or a combination of gold and silver if the child was royal.

A wealthy, high-born family would have silver or gilded silver or  copper.

An ordinary family, such as a fisherman, would make their own caping out of hard coconut shell, a flat piece of wood, seashell or brass.

Silver would have been made from silver ingots or silver trade coins melted and hammered or flattened.

They were tied around the waist by chains or strings in a tube or rings on the upper edge. Originally the colours of yellow, white, green, red or purple were reserved to royals . Commoners could only use green, white or red. Wealthy people wore silver wire cords.

They weighed about 30 – 40 grams. The shape was probably influenced by a betel leaf, which is associated with fertility and prosperity, as well as virginity and purity.

The first wearing would be accompanied by an important ceremony.   

It is thought that they originated in India, where they were known as araimudi, and were brought to the Malay world during the Srivijaya period (7th – 12th century). Indian ones are more curved with more elongated lower parts.

Regional styles developed but they are all different. Some are decorated with a cross dividing the caping into 4 parts, some with floral designs. A common one is two embossed mangosteen calyxes at the top and a pointed oval bamboo shoot at the tip. They represent female breasts and vulva. Others look like shields.

They stopped being worn in the early 20th century.

There are examples in Gold Jewellery of the Indonesian Archipelago, Anne Richter and Bruce Carpenter, Editions Didier Millet 2011, page 250 and Malay Silver and Gold, Courtly Splendour from Indonesia, Malayasia, Singapore, Brunei and Thailand, Michael Backman, River Books, 2024, pages 243-246 and in the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore..

19th century or early 20th century.

Map of Sulawesi.

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

The post Antique Sulawesi Modesty Plate appeared first on Murni's in Bali.

Material: Wood
Style: Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia
Size: Length 31 cm, Width 16 cm, Height 5 cm
Order Number: MHSTR3

Torajan serving dish used at formal festivities, funerals and weddings and to honour guests.

There is a similar one in Arts and Crafts of Indonesia, Anne Richter, Thames and Hudson 1993, page 72.

70-80 years old.

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

The post Toraja Wooden Tray appeared first on Murni's in Bali.