Product Description

Antique Balinese Palm Leaf Manuscript

Material: Lontar palm leaves, cotton string, wooden cover, Chinese coin
Style: Bali, Indonesia
Size: Length 38 cm, Width 14 cm, Depth 2.5 cm
Order Number: MHSABPLM3

Traditional Indonesian manuscripts are made from the leaves of the lontar palm tree (Borassus flabellifer). The leaves are all cut to the same size, usually between 9 to 18 inches (25 to 50 centimetres) long and 1 to 1.5 inches (2.5 to 4 centimetres) wide.

Characters are inscribed on the leaf with a special knife. The surface of the leaf is wiped with oil mixed with burnt candlewood soot. The soot remains in the grooves. The leaves are wiped clean and the black text can then be read. Few survive more than 100 years in Bali’s tropical climate.

The leaves are bound and held together through holes cut in the leaves by string or in this case bamboo sticks and a Chinese coin called a kepeng. They are protected by an outside board of wood.

Some of the many palm leaves are damaged.

Early – mid 20th century.

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