Title: Two Old Tribal Bone Batak Animal Etched Design Carving Containers
Catalog Number: 1375
Category: Bone / Scrimshaw
Artist:
Country & Origin:
Historical Period: Unassigned
Approximate Date: 1800 to 1930
Signature: Unsigned
Condition: Excellent
Size:
Height: 9 1/4 - 8 5/8 inches
Width: 1 1/2 -1 5/8 inches
Depth: 1 1/2 - 1 1/16 inches
Weight: Two at 10.4 oz
Description & Provenance: Two bone Batak, containers with animal graphic etched designs and a carved wooden head lid Two carved etchings in the form of a human wooden head and a animal etched figures on bone. The wider, open end is plugged with an elaborate wood stopper that depicts a singa (a fantastic creature that served as a supernatural protector). Container for Magical Substances (Naga Morsarang), 19th–early 20th century, Toba Batak people, Sumatra, Indonesia, bone and wood container. The wider, open end is plugged with an elaborate wood stopper. The Toba Batak people of northern Sumatra are especially notable for the abundance and variety of their ritual arts. In the past, the primary religious figures in Toba Batak society were datu, male religious specialists who acted as intermediaries between the human and supernatural worlds. Much of Toba Batak sacred art centered on the creation and adornment of the paraphernalia used by the datu in ritual contexts such as divination, curing ceremonies, or malevolent magic. The datu employed a variety of containers made of different materials to hold the supernaturally powerful substances used in rituals and other ceremonial contexts. The type of container seen here, known as a naga morsarang, is fashioned from hollow bone and wood.
Origin, Encyclopedia & Researched Articles:
Encyclopedia Name: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batak_(Indonesia)
Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of ethnic groups found in the highlands of North Sumatra, Indonesia. Their heartland lies to the west of Medan centred on Lake Toba. In fact the "Batak" include several groups with distinct, albeit related, languages and customs (adat). While the term is used to include the Toba, Karo, Pak Pak, Simalungun, Angkola and Mandailing groups, some of these peoples prefer not to be known as Batak.
Verbal History:
Among the Toba Batak people of northern Sumatra, communal houses and objects were, and in some areas still are, richly adorned with ornate architectural carvings, and objects where painted in red, white, and black. The carvings consisted primarily of foliate geometric designs in low relief interspersed with the heads or figures of real or fantastic creatures, carved in the round. Most houses and objects were adorned primarily with images of singa (composite creatures that served as supernatural guardians), these served as supernatural protectors. On earth, they served as status symbols. Only wealthy members of the elite could afford to own these objects.
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