Classification: Sculpture
Name: EFFIGY PORTRAIT OF THE WIFE OF A CHIEF
Region: Insular South-East Asia
Where it was made: Indonesia. Sumatra, Barus region (coastal harbour in the Indian Ocean)
Culture: Batak, Toba subgroup
Time period: 19th Century
Materials: Stone
Dimension: 92 cm (height)
Object ID: INV. 3138
Region: Insular South-East Asia
Where it was made: Indonesia. Sumatra, Barus region (coastal harbour in the Indian Ocean)
Culture: Batak, Toba subgroup
Time period: 19th Century
Materials: Stone
Dimension: 92 cm (height)
Object ID: INV. 3138
Collection:
BARBIER-MUELLER MUSEUM OF GENEVA
Rue Jean-Calvin, 10, 1204 Genève
Rue Jean-Calvin, 10, 1204 Genève
Descriptions:
The Batak Toba, Pakpak and Simalungun have two kinds of anthropomorphic statues: those depicting high-ranking men and women (sculpted during their lifetime or after death), and the pangulubalang, which have powerful defensive and offensive magic powers and were often sculpted to defend themselves from those of an enemy village.
The Batak Karo probably had small stonepangulubalang but no effigy of a chief has yet been seen. The same seems to be true of the two last Batak groups in the south, the Angkola and Mandailing, Islamised for almost two centuries.
The history of this portrait of a noblewoman is probably the same as the statue of Ronggur ni Ari, wife of Raja Ranjo Simanjuntak which I saw and photographed several times before 1988 at Huta Parik Sinombah, near Barus. It was sold by the villagers around 1990, reappeared on the international art market in 1993, when it was acquired by us, and is now in the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris.
This woman of Pakpak Simsim origin must indeed have been remarkable as her husband, who commissioned the work, did not have his equestrian statue sculpted. And, like this unknown woman, she is wearing her hair in a chignon with a hole in it. The first time I saw Ronggur ni Ari beneath her banyan tree, she had a bouquet of sacred leaves in her hair, placed in this hole, which was made for this precise purpose.
Both female statues were undoubtedly carved by two extremely gifted local datu panggana. We know of other sculptures within a limited radius, identical in style, without the squarer face and heavy jaw of the human depictions of the Pakpak and (later) Toba in the Lake Toba region. They have a characteristically very curved back, originally painted with symbolic motifs.
Over the last twenty years many Batak stone monuments have been destroyed due to lack of protection. They are seen as hindrances to the Islamisation of villages who still honour their ancestors and observe traditional customs.
The Batak Toba, Pakpak and Simalungun have two kinds of anthropomorphic statues: those depicting high-ranking men and women (sculpted during their lifetime or after death), and the pangulubalang, which have powerful defensive and offensive magic powers and were often sculpted to defend themselves from those of an enemy village.
The Batak Karo probably had small stonepangulubalang but no effigy of a chief has yet been seen. The same seems to be true of the two last Batak groups in the south, the Angkola and Mandailing, Islamised for almost two centuries.
The history of this portrait of a noblewoman is probably the same as the statue of Ronggur ni Ari, wife of Raja Ranjo Simanjuntak which I saw and photographed several times before 1988 at Huta Parik Sinombah, near Barus. It was sold by the villagers around 1990, reappeared on the international art market in 1993, when it was acquired by us, and is now in the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris.
This woman of Pakpak Simsim origin must indeed have been remarkable as her husband, who commissioned the work, did not have his equestrian statue sculpted. And, like this unknown woman, she is wearing her hair in a chignon with a hole in it. The first time I saw Ronggur ni Ari beneath her banyan tree, she had a bouquet of sacred leaves in her hair, placed in this hole, which was made for this precise purpose.
Both female statues were undoubtedly carved by two extremely gifted local datu panggana. We know of other sculptures within a limited radius, identical in style, without the squarer face and heavy jaw of the human depictions of the Pakpak and (later) Toba in the Lake Toba region. They have a characteristically very curved back, originally painted with symbolic motifs.
Over the last twenty years many Batak stone monuments have been destroyed due to lack of protection. They are seen as hindrances to the Islamisation of villages who still honour their ancestors and observe traditional customs.
Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller
Arts of Africa and Oceania. Highlights from the Musée Barbier-Mueller, musée Barbier-Mueller & Hazan (eds.), 2007: p. 261.
Arts of Africa and Oceania. Highlights from the Musée Barbier-Mueller, musée Barbier-Mueller & Hazan (eds.), 2007: p. 261.
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