A stunning collection of antique Javanese décor from the 19th century, ranging from smaller pieces like kris holders and oil lamps, to big cabinets, royal beds and interior walls with artistic carvings, were on auction last month.
The precious furniture and ritual objects, mostly from the mysterious Ponorogo region of East Java, were offered along with a variety of masterpieces of great artistic, cultural and historical merit, some of which were truly unique.
The sale of the antiques from the collection of David B. Smith, an American, at the Tony Raka Art Gallery in Ubud earlier this month drew enthusiastic art lovers and collectors together from all over offering their highest bids.
It seemed they did not want to miss the rare opportunity to own the extraordinary Javanese furniture and folk art of a quality that has rarely been seen on the market for over a decade.
“David B. Smith’s collection of Javanese antique furniture and folk art is the most comprehensive collection of Javanese village furniture and artifacts ever assembled,” said auctioneer Amir Sidharta.
Collecting since the 1980s, Smith kept the finest examples of 19th century Javanese cabinets, wall dividers, rice chests, beds, benches, chairs, kris holders, oil lamp stands and various other items.
Over 400 items offered in the auction were grouped into 259 lots. The auction managed to sell 166 out of the 259 lots. The unsold pieces are still available for purchase at the Mario Antique Gallery in Mas Village in Ubud.
One of the priciest goods was the ranjang kraton (royal bed) from Madura, which was offered at between Rp 100 million (US$11,200) to Rp 150 million and sold at Rp 135 million. The teak bed was probably commissioned for an important wedding of a member of the royal family of Sumenep Palace.
The imaginative carvings features a wide variety of swirling blossoms, sun motifs and floral motifs, complemented by love birds, fish, prawns, crayfish and a mythological winged beast with a lion’s body and an elephant’s head.
The skilful application of paint, the lively palette of natural pigments, the presence of cinnabar red and gold leaf and the detail seen in the carving, mark this object as an undisputed masterpiece.
Other great pieces in the collection were a gebyog (interior wall) and rono (room divider) offered between Rp 50 million to Rp 90 million. The colonial influence of these objects was evident in the European-style crown seen between the two dragons riding atop it. Below, there was the symbol of Islam, the crescent moon and morning star.
Each of the wooden panels in the center featured one of the heroes and three clowns from the Javanese version of the Hindu Mahabharata. They were flanked by a meandering swastika pattern of Chinese origin, above which were protective Buddhist monster masks.
There were also wooden benches, blawong (kris boards used for hanging heirloom kris), blencong (hanging oil lamps used for illuminating shadow-puppet plays), glideg (wheeled chests whose tops also function as day beds with a backrest at one end), jodang (small chests with lids resembling miniature houses).
A number of jodok (traditional oil lamps), ketongan (wooden slit drums carved with the shapes of shadow-puppet figures or animals), kinangan (boxes for storing ingredients for chewing betel nut) and loro blonyo (wedding effigy statues carved to represent a royal couple in the form of the Vishnu incarnation and the Goddess of Rice Dewi Sri) were also on sale.
All the items were documented in the book Javanese Antique Furniture and Folk Art, written by acclaimed art observer Bruce Carpenter.
Bruce added that when David was asked what drove him to gather such a brilliant but impractical collection, he had answered, “I was afraid that it would be scattered to the four winds before anyone truly had the chance to study and appreciate it.”
David started collecting the antique goods around 1988, as he traveled all over Java, including Tuban, Rembang, Solo, Cepu, Blora, Yogyakarta and Ponorogo.
“This is really my passion. I spent about six months each year for 15 years wandering through villages with James Tirtoprodjo, my colleague, mentor and frequent guide,” David told The Jakarta Post.
“We would just go where ever we would. Driving all night long, knocking people’s doors in the middle of the night in villages. It’s really an adventure because we wouldn’t know what we could find and we have never seen before, it’s like magic.
He sometimes bought the items from small dealers and sometimes directly from the owners.
Regarding the auction, he said that after having had these things for years, he decided to keep some of them in his house and let the others go.
From : The Jakarta Post
