Product Description
Antique Sumba Mamuli 8
Material: Silver
Style: East Sumba, Indonesia
Size: Height 8 cm, Width 6 cm
Order Number: MHSASMM8
Mamuli are fertility symbols. The form invokes the life-giving power of female genitalia and refers back to the ancestors and forward to continuity of lineages. They are avidly sought by collectors and museums.
This is an example of the core mamuli form. It was first seen in the Neolithic and Bronze ages and is one of the most archaic forms in Indonesian jewelry. The simplest is the diamond shape and central round hole extending down to a flared bottom. It is similar to the uppercase Greek letter omega.
They are either male or female. Male mamuli are lavishly decorated with beadwork and braid work and have bases on which stand human, animal and bird figures or warriors and horse riders. Horses’ tails are always held high. Their riders are noblemen. Female mamuli are simpler and do not have a base or legs. They both symbolise female genitalia which itself symbolises fertility and fecundity.
The most valuable are only worn during important ceremonies. Mamuli are given by an East Sumbanese man in return for a wife. They are used at funerals and serve as sacred altar objects employed by priests to contact the spirits (marapu). The most sacred in East Sumba are stored in the attics of clan houses. There are fewer restrictions in West Sumba.
Most are in fact made by specialists from nearby islands of Savu and Ndao or Savu or Balinese immigrants living in Sumba, or Chinese metalsmiths.
This mamuli is with water buffaloes. They were first domesticated during the Austronesian period about 4,000 years ago and have played an important place in Indonesian religions and economy. There are buffalo images throughout Indonesia. They are seen on the roofs of Minangkabau houses in Sumatra and rice granary doors in Torajaland in Sulawesi. They are sacrificed in huge funeral ceremonies for aristocrats in Sumba. They indicate wealth and status.
Mamuli.
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.
Map of Sumba.
There are similar examples in Gold Jewellery of the Indonesian Archipelago, Anne Richter and Bruce Carpenter, Editions Didier Millet 2011, pages 130 – 148.
Early – mid 20th century.
Please ask for the price (or make an offer).
