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the ROYAL COLLECTIONS IN ASIA ROYAL COLLECTIONS

VOLUME 23 NO. 1 MARCH 2014 TAASA Review contents

Volume 23 No. 1 March 2014

3 Editorial: ROYAL COLLECTIONS IN ASIA TAASA REVIEW Melanie Eastburn & Niki van den Heuvel, Guest Editors THE ASIAN ARTS SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA INC. Abn 64093697537 • Vol. 23 No.1, March 2014

4 PURI AGUNG: PRESERVING KARANGASEM’S ROYAL PALACE IN BALI ISSN 1037.6674 Registered by Australia Post. Publication No. NBQ 4134 Niki van den Heuvel

editorIAL • email: [email protected] 7 THE ROYAL ANTIQUITIES COLLECTION OF THE NGUYEN DYNASTY, VIETNAM General editor, Josefa Green Kerry Nguyen-Long publications committee 10 tHE JEWELLED WORLD OF BURMESE KINGS Josefa Green (convenor) • Tina Burge Charlotte Galloway Melanie Eastburn • Sandra Forbes • Charlotte Galloway William Gourlay • Marianne Hulsbosch 12 tHE ROYAL COLLECTIONS IN CIREBON, INDONESIA: A LIVING TRADITION Jim Masselos • Ann Proctor • Sabrina Snow Christina Sumner Joanna Barrkman design/layout

14 tHE QUEEN SIRIKIT MUSEUM OF TEXTILES, BANGKOK Ingo Voss, VossDesign Piyanan (Poom) Petcharaburanin printing John Fisher Printing 16 tHE Shoso-in treasury – a royal collection both extraordinary and everyday Published by The Asian Arts Society of Australia Inc. Robyn Maxwell PO Box 996 Potts Point NSW 2011 www.taasa.org.au 18 tHE HOFFOTOGRAAF: PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER TO ROYALTY IN ASIA Enquiries: [email protected] Gael Newton TAASA Review is published quarterly and is distributed to members of The Asian Arts Society of Australia Inc. TAASA Review welcomes 22 MODEST CONNOISSEUR: INDONESIAN TEXTILES IN THE LIVES OF JOHN YU & GEORGE SOUTTER submissions of articles, notes and reviews on Asian visual and Siobhan Campbell performing arts. All articles are refereed. Additional copies and subscription to TAASA Review are available on request. 26 roYAL ART IN THE COLLECTION OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA No opinion or point of view is to be construed as the opinion of

Melanie Eastburn The Asian Arts Society of Australia Inc., its staff, servants or agents. No claim for loss or damage will be acknowledged by TAASA 28 BOOK REVIEW: PHOTOGRAPHING INDIA’S PRINCES Review as a result of material published within its pages or Jim Masselos in other material published by it. We reserve the right to alter or omit any article or advertisements submitted and require

30 rECENT TAASA ACTIVITIES indemnity from the advertisers and contributors against damages or liabilities that may arise from material published.

30 taaSA Members’ Diary: MARCH - MAY 2014 All reasonable efforts have been made to trace copyright holders.

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PRINCE YESHWANT RAO HOLKAR AND HIS SISTER MANORAMA RAJE (DETAIL) C.1916, GOPINATH The deadline for all articles FOR OUR NEXT ISSUE IS 1 APRIL 2014 DEVARE (DEVARE & CO.), MUMBAI (BOMBAY), INDIA. GELATIN SILVER PHOTOGRAPH, WATERCOLOUR, ORIGINAL The deadline for all aDvertising GILDED FRAME, IMAGE 36.7 X 26.6 CM, NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA. SEE PP25-6. FOR OUR NEXT ISSUE IS 1 MAY 2014

A full Index of articles published in TAASA Review since its beginnings in 1991 is available on the TAASA web site, www.taasa.org.au

2 TAASA committee EDITORIAL: ROYAL COLLECIONS IN ASIA

Gill Green • President Melanie Eastburn & Niki van den Heuvel, Guest Editors Art historian specialising in Cambodian culture

ANN PROCTOR • Vice President When the idea for a special TAASA Review tumultuous history, some of which are now Art historian with a particular interest in Vietnam issue devoted to royal collections of Asia was displayed at the National Museum in Yangon. Todd Sunderman • TREASURER suggested by Gael Newton and Robyn Maxwell From descriptions of the gilded opulence of Former Asian antique dealer, with a particular interest the concept was immediately appealing. the 16th century to the deposal of the last in Tibetan furniture From the earliest conversations regarding Burmese king Thibaw in 1885 and the ensuing Dy Andreasen • SECRETARY the content of this issue we realized that it years of colonization and independence, Has a special interest in Japanese haiku and tanka poetry was vast with possibilities and enough ideas Charlotte gives insight into the meaning and

Hwei-fe’n cheah for several volumes presented themselves. purpose of these exceptional works of art. Visiting Fellow, School of Cultural Inquiry, Australian We are pleased that the final result brings to National University. readers a selection including less well-known Focusing on the royal antiquities of Vietnam’s Matt Cox and sometimes surprising collections, most of Nguyen dynasty, Kerry Nguyen-Long has Assistant Curator, Asian Art, Art Gallery of NSW which are accessible to the public. written a fascinating history of the dynasty’s

Charlotte Galloway regalia. Along with a detailed account of some Lecturer Asian Art History and Curatorial Studies, Throughout Asia some of the finest arts of the most prized seals, crowns and jade Australian National University, with a special interest have been produced under the patronage objects, Kerry provides an in-depth account of in the Buddhist Art of Myanmar of powerful rulers who sought to mark and their production in dedicated handicraft units.

Josefa Green assert their presence through the construction General editor of TAASA Review. Collector of of palatial and secular architecture and the Indonesia receives attention from a number Chinese ceramics commissioning of lavish ceremonial and of perspectives this issue. Inspired by recent

ANN GUILD courtly goods. Imperial dynasties established travels, Joanna Barrkman describes a unique Former Director of the Embroiders Guild (UK) across expansive mainland and insular display of ceramics as well as wayang kulit regions have resulted in a rich diversity of puppets in royal collections in Cirebon, MIN-JUNG KIM Curator of Asian Arts & Design at the Powerhouse Museum royal treasures. Although many are now alongside investigation into the development included in international collections, private of Cirebon batik motifs. Further emphasis on Yukie Sato and public, others remain in situ. While royal Indonesian textiles is provided by Siobhan Former Vice President of the Oriental Ceramic Society of the Philippines with wide-ranging interest in Asian art holdings in India and Japan are explored Campbell who discusses a forthcoming and culture in this issue, Southeast Asia is a particular exhibition of cloths from the collection of John

SUSAN SCOLLAY focus, with most articles relating to courts in Yu and his late partner George Soutter. Art historian and curator specialising in the arts of Islam Thailand, Burma, Vietnam and Indonesia. and in historic textiles. She is Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Gael Newton, whose exhibition Garden of the Society of the UK. Piyanan Petcharaburanin from the Queen East: photography in Indonesia 1850s–1940s at the

CHRISTINA SUMNER Sirikit Museum of Textiles in Bangkok gives National Gallery of Australia coincides with Former Principal Curator, Design and Society, an introduction to the Museum from its this edition of the TAASA Review, discusses Powerhouse Museum, Sydney inception to its current role as a state of the the way in which interest in photography, in Margaret White art institution inspired by the passion of particular portrait photography of royalty, Former President and Advisor of the Friends of Museums, Queen Sirikit. In November 2013 the Museum spread rapidly from Europe to the courts of Singapore, with special interest in Southeast Asian art, hosted an exceptional conference, Weaving Thailand and Indonesia from the mid 19th ceramics and textiles royal traditions through time, which included century. Photography is also explored in state representatives diverse sessions spanning textiles for the Thai Jim Masselos’ review of Pramod Kumar’s

Australian Capital Territory court and conservation at the Royal Textile sumptuous book Posing for Posterity: Royal Academy of Bhutan to contemporary fashion Indian Portraits, an investigation into Melanie Eastburn designed for the royal families of Malaysia photographs belonging to the royal families Curator of Asian Art, National Gallery of Australia and Brunei. of India. Queensland Russell Storer Following a fortuitously timed visit to Japan in As guest editors we are also happy to have Curatorial Manager, Asian and Pacific Art, 2012, Robyn Maxwell writes about the precious been able to contribute content on collections Queensland Art Gallery 8th century objects associated with the reign close to our hearts. Reflecting on time spent South Australia of Emperor Shomu and stored at the Shoso-in working in Bali and Lombok, Niki gives a James Bennett repository of Todai-ji temple in Nara. A rotating personal take on the history and holdings Curator of Asian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia selection of these works of art is available for of Puri Karangasem where she worked as a Victoria viewing for just a few days each year. curator for a year, while Melanie considers Carol Cains a group of objects associated with royal Curator Asian Art, National Gallery of Victoria International Charlotte Galloway looks at treasures from dynasties in various parts of Asia which are the courts of Burma that have survived a now held by the National Gallery of Australia.

3 PURI AGUNG: PRESERVING KARANGASEM’S ROYAL PALACE IN BALI

Niki van den Heuvel The towering gateways of Puri Agung adorned with carved guardian figures and molded stucco reliefs. PHOTO: Niki van den Heuvel

rom 2011 to 2012 I spent a year living in F Bali and Lombok working as a curator at the Puri Karangasem Historical Society, an initiative started by members of the Karangasem’s royal family to conserve their cultural heritage through print publications, digital documentation and preservation. My placement was supported by Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development (AYAD) and provided me with a unique insight into one of Bali’s living royal collections.

Prior to the advent of Dutch colonial rule in the Indonesian archipelago, the island of Bali was divided into numerous kingdoms subject, yet not always loyal, to a supreme king, the Dewa Agung of Bali. One of the most powerful of these was the Kingdom of Karangasem which occupied a considerable portion of eastern Bali, an area reflected today by the boundaries of its namesake district. At the height of its power Karangasem’s territories also included the island of Lombok and significant portions of northern Bali.

The politics of the Karangasem dynasty were often complex with various factions in eastern Bali and Lombok vying for absolute power throughout its history. Sometimes at odds, these factions nevertheless shared a common ancestry, tracing their descent to Gusti Anglurah (Ngurah) Batan Jeruk, or rather his nephew. The prime minister, or patih, of the Gelgel kingdom, Batun Jeruk fled to the island’s east in the mid 16th century following an unsuccessful rebellion against his ruler Dalem Bekung. According to dynastic genealogies and historical sources, Karangasem was established by Batun Jeruk’s adopted nephew and heir, Gusti Wayan Oka, and his son, Ida I Gusti Nyoman Karang. From these founding ancestors, there issued a complex genealogy of descendants who ruled and expanded the kingdom up until the late Anglurah Ketut Karangasem (r. 1908–1950). gardens and interspersed with ceremonial 19th century (Vickers n.d). Following the expansion of the Dutch East pavilions, temples and towering kori agung Indies into Bali at the turn of the 20th century gateways which house the spirit guardians Numerous palaces and temples erected by these two figures reigned as stedehouders, or that welcome and protect residents and guests Karangasem’s rulers in Bali and Lombok regents, for the Dutch colonial power. within the palace. remain intact to this day. Nestled in the town of Amlapura on the coast of Karangasem, Puri Protected by ubiquitous Balinese red-brick While many of the residences of Puri Agung Agung was home to the last rajas of the realm. walls on three sides and a sheer incline to are home to the descendants of Anak Agung Still lived in and cared for by the dynasty’s the east, Puri Agung consists of numerous Agung Anglurah Ketut Karangasem – with descendants, Puri Agung was constructed buildings constructed to house the rulers, his 10 wives the last Raja legitimately sired at the end of the 19th century by Anak their family and an extensive household 16 sons and 19 daughters – his quarters have Agung Gusti Gedé Jelantik (r. 1893–1908) of advisors, minsters, priests, guards and remained unoccupied since his death in 1966. and subsequently renovated and expanded servants. These abodes are surrounded Entitled Maskerdam by the Raja himself, the by his nephew and heir Anak Agung Agung by beautifully landscaped courtyards and building demonstrates his reverence to The

4 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 Anak Agung Gusti Gedé Jelantik and nephew and heir Anak Agung Agung Anglurah Ketut Karangasem read from a lontar manuscript. Courtesy KITLV collection A pedanda Siwa and pedanda Buddha conduct odalan rites at Puri Agung. PHOTO: Niki van den Heuvel

Netherlands in its architecture, a fusion of own name, history and magical properties, and rabbits, the local style is distinctly visible Dutch-inspired styles with local Balinese are re-united as a group where they are in the red brick foundations with their stucco and Chinese elements, and through its name inspected, cleaned and discussed among the bas reliefs, and in the trabeated supports with which refers to the city of Amsterdam. male members of the family. their ornate makara carvings.

Visitors are welcomed by the family to enter Adjacent to the raja’s former residence are Ornate friezes and panels adorn many of the chambers in which the last Raja slept ceremonial pavilions used for the various the gateways and buildings of Puri Agung. and entertained esteemed guests. A museum rituals of ones lifecycle. These include the These reliefs are unique, having been molded of sorts, Maskerdam houses some of the last bale ekalanga in which newly married couples from stucco rather than carved in low relief remaining treasures of the rajas. These include spent their first night and the elevated bale from stone. In varying states of disrepair the an ornately carved and gilded marble-topped pawedaan used for rites of passage such as dynamic recurring motifs and scenes include table and chairs given to the Raja by Queen tooth filing. The bale pawedaan is also the site the Rajas’ emblem, a regal winged beast or Wilhelmina of The Netherlands (r. 1890– at which pedanda or brahmana priests perform singa, guardian figures and Hindu deities, and 1948) along with a handful of photographs the prayers to accompany the rites carried epic battle scenes. In an effort to preserve these portraying the last rajas of Karangasem in Bali out prior to cremation in and around the scenes, members of the Karangasem family and Lombok. neighbouring bale pemandesan. have been slowly working to consolidate the Puri’s reliefs using modern materials to Maskerdam’s splendid verandah is used today Each structure demonstrates the fusion of recreate the most damaged examples. for ceremonies associated with weddings and local Balinese architecture with Chinese other important dates on the Balinese ritual design elements. While the latter is manifest A recurring theme in the architectural designs calendar. During such occasions the old palace through brightly painted open work lattices conceived by the last Raja is the water palace comes alive with colourful ceremonial regalia featuring auspicious motifs of swastikas, eight or garden. Occupying the centre of Puri Agung and offerings made to appease ancestors and petalled lotuses, mythical lion-like barong is the impressive pavilion known as bale spirits. For the most important occasions, a family wedding or the inauguration the head of the family for example, garments and textiles worn by the last Raja and his wives are brought out from safe keeping and worn by his descendants. The attire includes western style jackets in wool and velvet, embellished with gold braid as well as sumptuous songket skirt cloths.

In accordance with the Balinese ritual calendar, the descendants of Karangasem gather every 210 days on the day known as Tumpek Landep. On this day dedicated to steel objects, the heirloom keris bequeathed to the sons, and now grandsons, of the last Raja are presented with offerings and cleansed and purified by a balian, or shamanic priest, who intones the correct mantras for appeasing the ancestral deities contained within each blade. On this day the Raja’s keris, each with their A view of the bale pawedaan and bale pemandesan from Puri Agung’s water pavilion. PHOTO: Niki van den Heuvel

TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 5 Descendants of Anak Agung Agung Anglurah Ketut Karangasem gather at Puri Agung for Tukang Landep to bless the keris bequeathed to his sons. Photo: Niki van den Heuvel

religion, philosophy, literature and poetry. Included among the rajas’ collection were numerous lontar manuscript dating from the early to late 19th century. Today these are kept by the last Raja’s only surviving son, Professor A. A. Gedé Putra Agung, formerly the Head of Research in Culture and Tourism at Udayana University and presently the head of the Karangasem royal family. Also in the Professor’s collection are important historical documents including genealogical charts, awards and honours bestowed upon both rajas, along with correspondence between the house of Karangasem and the offices of Her Majesty Queen Wilhelmina.

Today, care of the Puri, both physical and spiritual, falls to the last Raja’s descendants with many still living within Puri Agung or travelling between their new homes and Amlapura. Along with the daily offerings required to appease the gods and ancestors numerous ceremonies are held throughout the year in accordance with the Balinese ritual calendar including galungan – during which time the deified ancestors of living Hindus return to their original abodes and must be housed and entertained – and odalan ceremonies which are dictated by the cycle of the moon and honour the dedication of the family’s numerous temples.

During the odalan for Puri Agung’s ancestral temple, anniversary worshippers gather in the family temple which houses the shrines of the dynasty’s forebears and deities. At such times one may catch a glimpse of the female descendants of Karangasem performing kambang. Surrounded entirely by water, once Agung Made Djelantik (1919–2007) and his Balinese dance or a pedanda Siwa and pedanda sourced from a local spring, the bale kambang is children. Completed in 1921 and used by the Buddha conducting the odalan ceremony as reached via a footbridge from the surrounding last Raja to entertain his wives and guests, the family perform appropriate prayers and courtyard. The impressive floating palace is the water palace and terraces of Taman offerings. surrounded by sculptural fountains in the Ujung also sustained extensive damage from form of mythical winged beasts and serpents. Gunung Agung’s eruptions and the 1976 The Karangasem palace architecture, gardens, Used as a space to entertain important guests earthquake. These have since undergone buildings, ceremonial regalia and documents the bale kambang once housed the family’s extensive restoration and like Tirtagangga are shared among the rajas’ descendants have heirloom gamelan, now in the Nyoman open to visitors. an important place in Balinese history and Gunarsa Museum in Klungkung, a replica of art history. Just as important is the intangible which was given to the Dutch and is now held The splendor of the Karangasem court is heritage of ceremony and custom passed in Amsterdam’s Tropenmuseum. encapsulated in beautiful photographs that down through generations and still practiced document the households of the rajas, their today. It is hoped that with continued Three additional water palaces were palaces, and important occasions including dedication and care by their descendants, constructed by the last Raja in the early 20th visits by Dutch officials. Many of these images the legacies and collections of Anak Agung century. Of these only two remain, Tirtagangga survive in international collections including Gusti Gedé Jelantik and Anak Agung Agung and the extensively renovated Taman Ujung. the Tropenmuseum and the National Gallery Anglurah Ketut Karangasem will continue to Designed by the Raja himself and also fed by a of Australia. In a particularly touching image remain for future generations. natural spring, the pools of Tirtagangga were a young Anak Agung Agung Anglurah Ketut constructed from 1948 as a place of recreation Karangasem kneels beside his uncle Anak Niki van den Heuvel is an Assistant Curator of Asian for his family and people. Hampered by the Agung Gusti Gedé Jelantik, and reads from a art at the National Gallery of Australia eruptions of Gunung Agung in 1963 and lack lontar (palm leaf) manuscript. of funds, the completion of the project was REFERENCES achieved only after the last Rajas’ death, due While never formally educated, the last Raja Vickers, A., n.d. A history of the Karangasem dynasty, unpublished. in great part to the efforts of his son Dr Anak had a great passion for the study of Balinese

6 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 THE ROYAL ANTIQUITIES COLLECTION OF THE NGUYEN DYNASTY, VIETNAM

Kerry Nguyen-Long Seal, Hoang de ton than chi bao, r. of Minh Menh, 1828. Gold, 8.7kg. Royal antiquities collection of the Nguyen Dynasty, National Museum of Vietnamese History, Hanoi n the afternoon of 30 August 1945 a O crowd gathered in front of the Ngo Mon Gate entrance to the Imperial City in Hue. They were there to hear King Bao Dai (r.1925-1945) read the abdication edict. The king wore his imperial robes, golden turban and beaded footwear. Standing at the head of the steps on the Five-Phoenix Pavilion, and aided by a microphone, he read the edict, his voice resonating with emotion. Against the background of a 21-gun salute the royal standard slowly descended the flagpole and the yellow star with red background was raised. Bao Dai formally presented the deputy chairman of the National Liberation Committee, bespectacled Tran Huy Lieu, with the royal regalia, a 7.8 kg gold seal and a royal sword sheathed in jade inlay. Tran Huy Lieu then raised the heavy seal high so that the crowd might see it (Marr: 1995).

Following his abdication, monarch-turned- citizen Nguyen Phuc Vinh Thuy vacated the palace and, except for his personal effects and those of the queen and queen mother, all property reverted to the state. The property inherited by the new administration, now known as the royal antiquities collection of the Nguyen Dynasty, included objects of ritual exhibition of selected objects was mounted for function of each (see Kerry Nguyen-Long & significance: royal seals, crowns, ceremonial public viewing. Unfortunately, the seal Hoang Nguyen Dinh Chien: 2010). swords, ceremonial dishes, censers and hau chi bao, one of a pair issued to Queen Nam gold books with silver covers. There are Phuong (1914-1963), was stolen. Thereafter In 1802 the first king of the Nguyen Dynasty, items of jewellery, tea-sets, writing sets and the collection was secured in storage under Nguyen Phuc Anh ascended the throne under ornaments made from gold, silver and silver- a special arrangement. In 2007 the Ministry the reign name Gia Long (r.1802-1819) and gilt embellished with jade, ivory, pearls and of Culture and Information allocated a fund held court in Phu Xuan (Hue). The country, faceted gemstones. to facilitate storage of the treasure and under unified after 30 years of vicious civil war, this new arrangement the museum became extended from the Chinese border in the north All were transferred to Hanoi. However, the the repository of a significant number of the to the Gulf of Siam in the south. The new king seal and sword handed over by Bao Dai at seals. Eighty-five seals from the collection was faced with the daunting task of building his abdication was lost and there are several were published for the first time in a book a nation from the rubble and founded the differing reports on what happened. It seems commemorating the 1000 year anniversary dynasty on a firm Confucian foundation. He initially they were despatched north and of the founding of Thang Long (Hanoi) in implemented a new administration, creating secured, but as the resistance war began they October 2010 (Nguyen Dinh Chien, Pham an executive system with six ministries, were hidden in a pagoda, and in the ensuing Quoc Quan, Nguyen Cong Viet: 2009). and established the Imperial Academy, fighting uncovered by French forces who constructed a Temple of Literature in the handed them over to the ex-king. At some All the seals, with the exception of four, date new capital and held examinations to choose considerably later date the sword passed into to the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945). These are the most talented scholars to serve in his the possession of his son Nguyen Phuc Bao significant seals of the dynasty’s kings and administration. Law and order, the taxation Long. It is understood the seal, Hoang de chi crown princes as well as posthumous seals, system, infrastructure and industrial works, bao, cast in 1823, is currently in the possession and others in the category of queen, king’s all in neglect and disrepair after years of of Mme Monique Baudot who married the ex- mother and adoptive mother. The king’s seals warfare, received urgent attention. By the king in 1972. are symbols of his supreme authority and thus time of his death Hue was secure as the centre represent the authority of the dynasty. All of an organized administration system of the In December 1959 the remainder of the are recorded in the official historical records. unified country. treasure was transferred from the Ministry The survival of the actual seals enhances this of Finance to the National Museum of sigillography, with its detailed history, age, There are 13 seals from the reign of Gia Vietnamese History in Hanoi. In 1961 an distinction of types, manner of use, and legal Long, and 14 from his successor Minh Menh

TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 7 Crown, Mu THUONG trieu, Gold, faceted gemstones, pearls, cloth, 600gr. Royal antiquities collection of the Nguyen Dynasty, National Museum of Vietnamese History, Hanoi

There were also private units working with an elected leader who submitted an application to the head of the province for a licence. The leader was the mediator for dealings between the unit and the Court, and the craftsmen provided services on a contractual basis. The administration of the units was the responsibility of the Ministry of Public Works while work programming was coordinated with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of War. The Armoury operated under this administrative umbrella and was responsible for the casting of the gold and silver royal seals.

The crowns in the collection had badly deteriorated during storage. In 2008 gold jeweller and historian Vu Kim Loc was assigned the task of researching and restoring four to their original state. The crown, mu thuong trieu, weighing 660 g is representative of its type. The black fabric covering the armature is a perfect foil for the gold and jewelled assemblage and delicate filigree wire- work panels support dragons interspersed with jewelled sunbursts and edged with bands of pearls. The ritual sword, An dan bao kiem, weighing 580 g, is heavily embossed and jewel-encrusted. The treasure also includes several gold ritual boxes, among them one weighing 2.15 kg encrusted with jade and coral. Its openwork cover features jade inserts engraved with different motifs.

The regal Nguyen dragon, preserve of royal authority, is a confrontational creature with (1820-1840). In 1803 the Ty thuong bao was Nam province. Two of the heaviest seals in the large, fleshy head and elongated proboscis, established. This department had custody collection are from the reign of Minh Menh. with a great swirling flourish to its tail, very of the royal seals. Gia Long issued a decree Sac menh chi bao, cast on an auspicious day in different to the elegant, fluid undulating that seals of national significance be cast in the 10th month in the 8th year of his reign in dragon of previous dynasties. These gold. In comparison to seals in later reigns, pure gold, weighs 223.6 taels (approximately characteristics are seen on what appears to the seals which date to his reign bear fewer 8.3 kg). On the same day the seal Hoang de ton be a unique figurine of a three-dimensional side notations. Royal decrees stipulated all than chi bao was also cast in gold. It weighs dragon, the body reared up and amongst the regulations to be followed in the casting 234.43 taels, approximately 8.7 kg and is the clouds. It is dated to the second year of the and engraving of a royal seal. Ceremony largest and heaviest seal in the collection. reign of Thieu Tri (1842). There are numbers surrounded every step in the process. The of dishes all of similar shape but which vary design of the head of the seal was selected with These treasures in the antiquities collection considerably in their style of decoration. They due concern for protocol and iconographic were made in the dynastic handicrafts units. range from an undated dish, possibly one of significance. Minh Menh went on to produce a This was a system of craft workshops in place the earliest, with the central design featuring system of seals for the dynasty. He established since the time of the Nguyen lords, and which an elegant chased design of dragon amongst the rules for their casting and use, in line with followed the system put in place during the clouds set against a background of fine administrative reforms and with the aim of Le so period (1428-1527). Under the Nguyen matting, to an extravagantly embellished jade creating uniformity throughout the kingdom. dynasty the system was strengthened. With dish with an attached gold flange adorned the country unified, the kings were able with gemstones. Yet another, from the reign An heirloom seal of the realm is particularly to avail themselves of the most talented of Duy Tan (1907–1916), features a design in important as it signifies the legitimacy of the craftsmen in the land. King Minh Menh set high relief. All were made for ritual use. The king and continuity of the dynastic line. The up the Gold and Silversmith Unit, a multi- collection’s several large censers and sets of seal Dai Nam thu thien vinh menh truyen quoc layered system with master craftsmen in altar vases are profusely decorated in high ty (Heirloom Seal of Dai Nam with Enduring permanent service to the king supported by relief and with great detail. Mandate from Heaven) is made of white jade teams of craftsmen. Depending on demand, presented to King Thieu Tri (r.1841-1847) in the craftsmen rendered their services in the The Nguyen kings issued gold, silver and 1846. Documentation shows it came from workshops in the first half of each year, after bronze books. The illustrations on their Jade Mountain, Hoa Dien District, in Quang which they were free to return to their village. several pages are beautiful in their execution,

8 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 Ritual box. Gold encrusted with jade and coral, 2.15kg.

Ritual dish, r. of Duy Tan, 1911. Gold, 31.3cm (D), 1.4kg. Royal antiquities collection Royal antiquities collection of the Nguyen Dynasty, of the Nguyen Dynasty, National Museum of Vietnamese History, Hanoi National Museum of Vietnamese History, Hanoi

with chasing the favoured technique worked To meet French demands for ‘reparation’ as in the handicrafts units of previous dynasties. against a background of fine matting. A stipulated in the treaty, the King ordered gold Given the often tumultuous and difficult precious gold book is accompanied by its own in the kingdom be paid into the Treasury. events of the last two centuries it is both silver box with the cover of the box echoing Under tremendous stress he also ordered extraordinary and serendipitous that this the design on the cover of the book. the disbandment of the official handicrafts collection has survived. units. As a consequence large numbers of elite Jade objects show superb craftsmanship artisans exited from Hue and returned to their Kerry Nguyen-Long is a contributing editor of Arts and were made in considerable numbers by villages. Others remained but worked under of Asia and author of Arts of Viet Nam: 1009-1945 Nguyen craftsmen prior to the disbandment different arrangements. published in Hanoi by The Gioi Publishers in 2013. of the handicrafts units. They include ritual objects, some in archaic forms, tea-sets By the time his successor King Dong Khanh REFERENCES overlaid with gold, vases, spittoons, items (r.1885-1889) mounted the throne the Brocheux, P. and Hemery, D. 2009. Indochina: An Ambiguous Colonization, 1858-1954. University of California Press, Berkeley. for the scholar’s table and ornaments. There emasculation of the Court was complete and (trans. Ly Lan Dill-Klien et.al.) are vessels with thin, translucent walls, subsequent kings were regarded as compliant Marr, David G. 1995: Vietnam 1945. The Quest for Power. others carved in high relief and some artistic puppets of the French. Texts on seals from the University of California Press, Berkeley. renditions on which the skin of the jade is reigns of Dong Khanh and Khai Dinh (r.1916- Nguyen-Long, K. & Nguyen Dinh Chien 2010. ‘The Nguyen retained. With the closure of the handicrafts 1925) bear witness to French administrative Dynasty Royal Seals Collection in the National Museum of units, working in jade and ivory was almost presence (Kerry Nguyen-Long & Nguyen Vietnamese History’ in Arts of Asia, Jul-Aug, Vol 40, Issue 04, completely abandoned by 1897 (Brocheux and Dinh Chien: 2010). Eight more kings Hong-Kong. Hemery: 2009). would mount the throne and ritual objects Nguyen Dinh Chien, Pham Quoc Quan, Nguyen Cong Viet 2009. would continue to be made under the new Royal Seals of the Nguyen Dynasty in Viet Nam. National Museum of Vietnamese History, Ha Noi. (Bi-lingual text) The fourth king, Tu Duc (r.1847-1883), arrangement. scholarly and steeped in Confucianism, was ill-equipped to resist the encroaching west and King Bao Dai’s abdication marked the end of when French forces landed on Vietnamese soil the Nguyen Dynasty, the monarchical system, he was unable to respond either militarily or its rituals and its associated paraphernalia. diplomatically. He bears the ignominy of being The royal antiquities collection is especially the signatory to the Treaty of Saigon (known valuable for its reliable provenance and as the unequal treaty) signed in 1862 which remarkable for its survival compared with the delivered the country into French hands. heavy loss of objects made by elite craftsmen

TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 9 THE JEWELLED WORLD OF BURMESE KINGS

Charlotte Galloway Lion Throne 1858, Wood, lacquer, gilding, glass. National Museum of Myanmar, Yangon

of the royal palace of Mandalay, the king and He [the king of Pegu] wears more rubies on queen, courtiers and other scenes also show him than the value of a very large city, and us the richness of the royal household and its he wears them on all his toes. And on his material possessions. legs he wears certain great rings of gold, all full of the most beautiful rubies; also his The Lion Throne is the only remaining arms and his fingers all full. His ears hang example of nine commissioned around down half a palm, through the great weight 1858 by Thibaw’s predecessor King Mindon of the many jewels he wears there, so that (r.1853–78) who installed them in the new seeing the person of the king by a light at Palace of Mandalay in 1859. Each featured night, he shines so much that he appears to a specific symbol and was made of different be a sun. (Varthema 1863: 219-20). types of wood symbolising the eight virtues of a king, with the Lion Throne being the most hese words, written by an Italian important. T adventurer Ludovico di Varthema, who visited the court of Pegu (Bago) in Burma Actually, two identical Lion Thrones were around 1505–06, conjure up an image of a made at the time, these being traditionally were prescribed by sumptuary laws. Written wealthy Burmese court replete with gems and counted together. One was placed in the accounts of court process from the 1600s detail gold and truly dazzling to early European Hluttaw, the court building where the king these laws and indicate a sophisticated etiquette visitors. Other historical accounts of Burmese would preside over meetings with his of behaviour was in place. The British diplomat kings and their courts repeat these visions ministers and pronounce royal orders. The and army officer, Michael Symes, published of palaces and temples of gold and silver, other, which still survives, was placed in the a comprehensive account of his Burmese gems in abundance and ornately decorated Lion Throne room in the Mandalay Palace experiences while on an official visit to meet the furniture and costume. under a seven-tiered roof. Positioned between king of Ava, Bodawpaya, in 1795 and quickly the main Audience Hall and the king’s appreciated the importance of such laws: Visitors to Burma today see evidence of such own chambers, its location represented the It has already been noticed, that almost every riches in the many pagodas and temples kingdom’s centre of power (Fraser-Lu 1994: article of use, as well as ornament, particularly that are accessible to all, yet where are these 99–100). Its return by the British from India in their dress, indicates the rank of the owner; luxuriously adorned royal palaces, furnishing at the time of Burmese independence in the shape of the beetle-box, which is carried and costumes now? This is a question with 1948 was of symbolic significance. The Lion by an attendant after a Birman [sic] of no simple answer. When the last Burmese Throne is one of the finest extant examples distinction wherever he goes, his earrings, cap king, Thibaw (r.1878–1885) was dethroned, of Burmese woodcarving, with its elaborate of ceremony, horse furniture, even the metal many royal possessions were either dispersed detailing, gilding and inlay of gems and glass of his spitting-pot and drinking-cup are made or their ownership transferred to the British mosaics. Today it forms the centrepiece of the (which, if of gold, denote him to be a man of colonisers. Thibaw’s great Lion Throne, the National Museum of Myanmar. high consideration), all are indicative of the Sihasana, was sent to India, while much of gradations of society; and woe be unto him that the royal regalia was transferred to London, Some of the most spectacular courtly objects assumes the insignia of a degree which is not and entered the Victoria and Albert Museum are Thibaw’s royal regalia, integral to court his legitimate right. (Symes 1800: 310) (V&A). Without royal patronage, wooden etiquette and major ceremonies. During palaces deteriorated, burned or were later Thibaw’s reign these consisted of 35 gold The king’s regalia can be considered the most destroyed during World War II, costumes objects, each allocated a place on the left or significant courtly objects, potent symbols of and textiles have succumbed to insect right side of the throne. Objects included betel kingship. The Royal Orders of Burma include damage, jewels and gold sold off, while most bowls and containers, flower caskets, goblets reference to various kings’ regalia since 1598 and palanquins and royal barges have long since and covers. In 1964 following extensive while there is some consistency, it is clear that disappeared. negotiations the British Government returned many objects changed over time. For example, the royal regalia to General Ne Win with while Thibaw’s display comprised 35 objects, While much has been lost, what remains the Burmese government gifting one object, the Royal Orders for Alaungpaya (r.1752-60) of the last Burmese royal collection is truly a magnificent betel container in the shape list 26. There are some fanciful notions about spectacular. On public display at the National of a mythical bird, to the V&A as thanks for the origins of the royal regalia, those of Thibaw Museum in Yangon are the Lion Throne, some keeping the royal regalia safe. being either ‘a gift from a friendly king or royal regalia, furniture, costumes and other a captured thing from an enemy king or an royal possessions such as manuscripts and While the objects themselves readily heirloom handed down from Mahasamada the jewellery. The complexity of the royal objects, demonstrate the skill of Burmese artisans first king on earth.’ (Than Tun 1985). both in materials and decoration, makes and the extensive use of gold, gems, silk and it easy to imagine the splendour that was other luxury materials, they were much more There is a long history of Burmese kings recounted by so many foreigners who visited than decorative items. Each object served associating themselves with great rulers of the courts of Burma. Surviving photographs a specific purpose and the materials used the past and creating things anew, and there

10 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 KING THIBAW ALBUM C. 1900, JOHANNES & CO. (PHOTOGRAPHIC STUDIO), MANDALAY, BURMA (MYANMAR), Betel box and stand, Mandalay, Burma 1850-75, filigree work in gold on a gold ground, outlined with bands of rubies ALBUMEN SILVER PHOTOGRAPH, 15.0 X 10.0 CM, and imitation emeralds, with some embossing; eyes of rubies, 41.5 cm (H), 35.5 cm (L), 18 cm (W). Given by the Government of NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA Burma, pp H.E. U. Hla Manly, Ambassador of Burma, London © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

have been few material objects of power that can reliably be confirmed as heirlooms passed down to successive monarchs. This is related in part to notions of Buddhism and karma. For new kings, especially those who have overthrown a ruler, reusing royal regalia could be seen as a portent for suffering the same fate as the king just deposed. Hence new regalia were sometimes commissioned to distance the owner from the past, free from any negative associations. This behaviour is also seen when new rulers established their own capital city, something that has happened regularly in Burma’s history.

All courtly goods can be viewed as the accoutrements of kings and their entourage. From costume through to furniture, each object served a functional purpose, and supported the legitimacy of the king and his court. The royal regalia were described and Today, while only a small part remains of the REFERENCES Fraser-Lu, Sylvia. 1994. Burmese Crafts past and Present, Kuala Burmese courtly collections, our appreciation illustrated in great detail in manuscripts. Lumpur: Oxford University Press, pp99-100 Likewise, manuscripts outlined allowed of Burma’s royal patronage is still seen Symes, Michael. 1800. An Account of an Embassy to the Kingdom possessions and the types of materials which through the many temples that were built and of Ava in the Year 1795, London: Bulmer and Co. Reprint 1995 could be used for differing ranks. Thibaw’s renewed in their names. For while the rulers New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. tax records of 1882 indicate allowances were and their capitals changed, and royal regalia Than Tun. 1985. The Royal Orders of Burma, A.D. 1598-1885, paid to carvers, needle workers, gold-lace often made anew, the country’s Buddhist Kyoto: The Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, weavers, jewellers, sequin makers, royal traditions have been a constant. It has been part 3, A.D 1751-1781 pp.x-xii weavers and embroiderers, to name a few the duty of kings to uphold Buddhism and U Tin. The Royal Administration of Burma (first published 1931), of the craftspeople required to satisfy court- this was most often done by directing their translated by Euan Bagshawe, Bangkok: Ava Publishing House 2001, pp.621-23 ordered demand for sumptuary goods (U patronage to significant public Buddhist Varthema, Ludovico di. The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema in Tin 1931: 621-23). The privileges described sites such as the Shwedagon and Mahamuni Egypt, Syria, Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix, in Persia, India, and for various ranks at court ranged from the pagodas. It is here, rather than in conventional Ethiopia, A.D. 1503–1508. Translated by John W. Jones. Edited by number of fringes on a sash, the types of notions of royal collections, that the legacies George P. Badger. Hakluyt Society Publications, 1st ser., no. 32. official cap robes and earrings, through to the of Burmese kings have endured. 1863. Reprint. New York: Burt Franklin, n.d, pp.219-220. form of horse trappings. There were five types For a complete list see http://www.myanmars.net/myanmar- of official litters, four types of state barges and Charlotte Galloway is a Lecturer in Asian Art History museum/myanmar-royal-regelia3.htm two types of elephant trappings (U Tin: 458- and Curatorial Studies in the Centre for Art History 72). All aspects of courtly life were subject to and Art Theory at the Australian National University. ritual and ceremony. Her specialist research area is the art of Burma.

TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 11 THE ROYAL COLLECTIONS IN CIREBON, INDONESIA: A LIVING TRADITION

Joanna Barrkman Interior walls of the Sunan Gunungjati royal cemetery, Cirebon, lined with Chinese, Japanese and European trade ceramics. Photo: Joanna Barrkman, 2013

he royal collections of Cirebon T demonstrate the impact of royal aristocrats on Cirebon’s material culture, evident when considering specific sites connected with Cirebon’s royal courts, keraton, and in relation to art forms associated with the courts, such as batik textiles and pewayangan, shadow theatre imagery. Ceribon has been a bustling international trading port, as well as a distinguished centre of Islamic religion in Java, for centuries. These influences have met to configure a distinctive and unique material culture, which is primarily articulated through the lens of the courts and their collections.

A venerated site of pilgrimage, the royal cemetery (makam) of Cirebon is named after Sunan Gunungjati (1479–1568), the founder of the Cirebon kingdom on the north coast of Java and the Javanese Sultanate of Banten. Sunan Gunungjati is revered as one of the ‘Wali Songo’ or nine apostles saints of 2005: 127). Its continued presence is evidenced While the phoenix motif has been widely Javanese Islam. by a dedicated space within the makam for incorporated into coastal, pesisiran batik designs local Chinese Muslim worshippers. in towns such as Indramayu, Bayanumas and While visiting the royal makam of Sunan Pekolongan, the megamendung motif, which Gunungjati in November 2013 on the day of Indeed the marriage of Sunan Gunungjati classically consists of nine gradated shades Nadran festivities, the makam was filled with to Princess Ong Tien, the daughter of a of colour from white to red, remains one of chanting Muslim worshippers and pilgrims Chinese Emperor, strengthened ties between the most identifiable batik motifs worn by indicating the significance of the site itself and Cirebon and Chinese traders and fostered attendants (abdi dalam) at the four Cirebon the continued respect for the forbears of Cirebon the development of the impressive ceramic keraton and now also in the wider community. and Islam. This is an annual ceremony when collection held by the sultanate. According offerings are made by local fishermen to the to local accounts provided by an attendant at Keraton Kesepuhan, established in the 15th rivers leading to the Cirebon Harbour in order the makam, Princess Ong Tien instructed that century, is the oldest of the four keraton in to seek safety and fecundity from the sea in the the palace’s ceramics be encased in plastered Cirebon. Due to internal disputes Keraton coming year. Entering the makam reveals rows walls to ensure the continued preservation of Kanoman and Keraton Keprabonan were of graves adorned with carved headstones and the ceramic collection. Whether true or not, this formed in 1677 and then Keraton Keceribonan the occasional intricate wooden grave-marker action has ensured the unique decoration of the in 1807. These keraton are all located within the bearing Javanese and Arabic script, representing Cirebon royal cemetery and ongoing access by city of Cirebon and although they no longer 20 generations of the royal lineages of Cirebon the people of Cirebon, irrespective of class or govern the region they still exert significant (Yayasan Keraton Kesephuan 2004:10). social position, to this royal ceramic collection. influence in the wider community. ‘Keraton The trend was later adopted at the palaces batik’ is a widely used term in Cirebon and A striking visual feature of the makam is in Cirebon, all of which feature wall surfaces refers to batik motifs that remain the purview its walls, adorned with Chinese, Japanese, highly decorated with ornate ceramics. of royal family members and the abdi dalam. Arabic and European ceramics. Rows of Traditionally, keraton batik was created in hand-painted 18th century Dutch tiles line Several magnificent Chinese stoneware Trusmi, an outlying area of Cirebon. the walls, together with repeated circular storage jars (guci) are permanently installed at arrangements of hand-painted glazed dishes the makam and contain water that flows from Jarit batik lengths often feature three layers and plates featuring stenciled motifs. Due to an onsite natural spring, whose water is used of iconography, alluding to the concept of maritime links between Cirebon, India and by pilgrims following worship. One of the the three worlds: the lower underworld, China for over 2000 years, the pesisir shores guci features relief designs of phoenixes and the mundane world and the heavenly of north Java were graced with valuable trade birds around the shoulder beneath a series realms. Architectural features of the Keraton ceramics that symbolised wealth and prestige of sturdy lugs. Probably dated to the 18th Kesepuhan, such as the red brick gapura or among the Javanese elite (Miksic 2005: 122-3). century, the surfaces of the guci are adorned gateways, the pleasure gardens and volcanic This collection of Ming ceramics at the Sunan with floating abstracted cloud-like motifs, rockeries are depicted in keraton batik. Gunungjati makam reinforces the view that a known in Cirebon as megamendung. Mythical animals based on syncretic Cirebon Chinese Muslim community was established Influences from trade ceramics were also iconography known as the singa barong, part in Cirebon by the early 15th century (Miksic adapted into local Cirebon batik designs. elephant, part serpent and part eagle, reflect

12 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 A young puppeteer with shadow puppets from

Storage jar (guci), 18th century, stoneware containing the Keraton Keceribonan collection. His shirt holy water at the Sunan Gunungjati royal cemetery. Photo: features the Cirebon megamendung pattern. Joanna Barrkman, 2013 Photo: Joanna Barrkman, 2013 the respective influences of India, China and Arabia. This mythical animal was originally created as a royal pusaka (heirloom) carriage, also colloquially referred to as singa barong, made in 1549 for the Sultan Kesepuhan and documented as: ‘Perhaps one of the most spectacular of royal heirlooms still owned by an Islamic court…’ (Bennett 2005: 52). Here, a protective trident is wielded by the trunk of the singa barong, itself protected by the golden umbrella, songsong kuning, symbolic of nobility. Such imagery continues to feature on courtly keraton batiks.

Another distinctive feature on batik keraton in Ceribon is the wadasan motif. A depiction of the volcanic rock formations used to create the performances, such as royal weddings and Bagal Bentung. This encounter is played out pleasure gardens of the Keraton Kesepuhan, the official ceremonies. To ensure care and until Bagal Bentung yells ‘You’re wearing wadasan design is produced using curved linear preservation, the trunk is opened on a monthly your sumping (ear decoration) back-to-front!’ gradation of colour and is stylistically related basis, every Jumat Liwon, one of the five days Betara Guru busily adjusts his ear decoration to the megamendung motif. Within the rock identified by the Javanese calendar known as as he departs the drama, a metaphor for his formations are indications of miniature caves. Pasaran. The puppets are carefully taken out inability to listen to the ordinary people. This The cave image suggests a gapura, symbolic and hung across the width of the room from tale encapsulates an important point about of Javanese places of retreat for meditation morning to evening. This process has ensured Cirebon courtly pewayanagan. The Hindu and asceticism, and implies that the palace is a that the collection has remained free of pests gods are depicted as being removed from mystical place where the ruler, through practicing and mould for almost a century in the tropical the populace and unconcerned with their austerities, acquires exceptional spiritual powers climate of Java’s north coast. wellbeing, in contrast to the presented position (Miksic 2005: 126). The wadasan design, like the of Islam as advocating egalitarianism and megamendung pattern, has been adopted as an Wayang kulit are used to perform the Mahabarata enshrining active concern for the wellbeing of icon of Cirebon and is used to decorate royal and Ramayana, Hindu classics which have one’s neighbours and community. batik keraton, palace entranceways, the singa been adapted by Wali – distinguished Muslim barong carriage, glass paintings, grave-markers leaders – to reflect Islamic values and faith. One These examples of wayang kulit puppets, batik and wayang kulit puppets. example of this adaptation is the panakawan, and ceramics drawn from the royal collections ‘clown servant’, repertoire which in Balinese of Cirebon all share the features of being The wadasan batik motif is one of several and Javanese shadow theatre features four associated with living traditions – from the use distinctive features appearing on the royal panakawan: Semar/Twalen, Merdah/Werdah, of trade ceramics as decorative devices and as wayang kulit collection at the Keraton Gareng and Petruk. In Cirebon, however, the containers for holy water used in purification Keceribonan. Often embellishing the base of pewayangan theatre includes nine characters: ceremonies, to keraton batik worn as courtly the puppet, the wadasan pattern is painted in Semar (also known as Curis), Bita Rota, Duala, regal attire, and wayang kulit used to enact red, white and blue, using gradated lines of Bagong, Cunkring, Ceblok, Bagal Buntung, ancient dramas now infused with Islamic colour in keeping with batik textile design. Sekar Pandang and Gareng. The use of nine values for entertainment at royal occasions. This painting style featuring coloured linear panakawan characters has been interpreted by In these contexts the significance of these bands is also adapted for use on puppets local scholars as a reflection of the nine Wali artworks continues to unfold as they remain including the depiction of the fire puppet, api Songo (Mr Bambang Irianto, Cirebon, pers central to the activities of both the court and wayang kulit, whereby red, pink and crimson comm, 15 November 2013). The panakawan members of the wider Cirebon community. flames are painted on leather. Another link perform the role of translating the words, between Cirebon batik and shadow puppets thoughts and deeds of the aristocratic ksatriya Joanna Barrkman is an independent curator, currently is the inclusion of the elephant, serpent characters into everyday colloquial language, contracted to the National Gallery of Australia and and eagle motifs as depicted on the ‘tree making the action accessible to the audience. the Fowler Museum, UCLA. She is co-curator, with of life’, kekayonan puppet used to mark the Roy W. Hamilton, of the exhibition Textiles of Timor: commencement, scene changes and end of Another adaptation that has occurred in royal Island of the Woven Sea, opening in Los Angeles on shadow theatre performances. Cirebon shadow theatre is the ‘recasting’ 7 September 2014. She is a PhD candidate at the of Hindu characters from the classical texts Australian National University. The Keraton Keceribonan royal collection as negative rather than positive forces. includes furniture, batiks, trade ceramics, The character of Batara Guru, customarily REFERENCES Yayasan Keraton Cirebon, 2004. Mengenal Kasultanana weapons, coins and documents, as well as represented as the all-knowing god who Kasepuhan, Cirebon – West Java, Yayasan Keraton Cirebon. over 260 wayang kulit puppets, made from embodies the ‘radiant spiritual force of man’ Miksic, John, N. ‘The art of Cirebon and the image of the ascetic is reinvented here as a negative, arrogant buffalo and cow leather with guide-sticks in early Javanese Islam’ in Bennett, J. (ed.) 2005. Crescent Moon. crafted from horn and wood. Known as the character. When the lame and disfigured Islamic Art & Civilisation in Southeast Asia, Art Gallery of South Kotak Angon collection, the puppets are stored panakawan, Bagal Bentung, asks Betara Guru Australia, Adelaide, pp. 122–138. in a large wooden trunk inside the keraton. ‘Whose child am I?’ ‘Whose responsibility Bennett, James ‘Islamic Art and Civilisation in Southeast Asia’ in It remains a working collection, used on am I?’ Betara Guru consistently replies ‘You Bennett, J. (ed.) 2005. Crescent Moon. Islamic Art & Civilisation in occasions befitting shadow theatre pewayangan are the son of Semar!’ ‘No I am not!’ replies Southeast Asia, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, pp. 18–91.

TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 13 THE QUEEN SIRIKIT MUSEUM OF TEXTILES, BANGKOK

Piyanan (Poom) Petcharaburanin

Exterior view of the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles

pened to the public on 9 May 2012, O the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles (QSMT) is the gift of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit and the Foundation for the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations and Related Techniques (SUPPORT Foundation) to the people of Thailand.

It all started in 1970, when His Majesty King Bhumibol and Her Majesty Queen Sirikit paid a visit to Na Wa, in Sakon Nakon province in northeastern Thailand to offer help to victims of flooding. Realizing that giving supplies to people was just a stopgap measure, Their Majesties decided to find the villagers some form of supplementary income. During the whose sole or supplementary income is constructed in 1870 during the reign of King royal couple’s visit, Her Majesty noticed the derived from craft traditions including Rama V on the site of a single-story army beautiful ikat (mat mii) skirts, long abandoned weaving and embroidery. barracks built in the early Rattanakosin period by urban women, worn by local women (1782 - c. 1810). Named for its original occupant, and recognised that they were still being To create awareness of the need to promote the Royal Department of Tax Revenue (later made. As a result, Queen Sirikit decided to and preserve indigenous textiles for future the Ministry of Finance), the Ratsadakorn- purchase the textiles for her own wardrobe generations, Her Majesty decided to establish bhibhathana building was most likely designed and encouraged the villagers to weave more the Museum, which was initially led by by the Grassi brothers, three Italian architects silk. It subsequently occurred to Her Majesty the late Professor Smitthi Siribhadra, Her working in Bangkok at the time. that hand weaving could provide an income Majesty’s senior adviser on artistic affairs. The for these farming families that would be Museum’s objectives, set by Her Majesty, are The transformation of the former office unaffected by weather conditions. being achieved by staff, guided by Her Royal building into a textiles museum began in Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, 2003, when Her Majesty asked permission - From this beginning, Her Majesty created the Museum’s patron. graciously granted by His Majesty the King the SUPPORT Foundation in 1976 to further - to use the then vacant building to house the encourage the production of traditional Housed within the grounds of the Grand new museum. Over nine years, the building Thai handicrafts. Over the past 40 years the Palace, the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles was completely remodelled: its modern Foundation has expanded to include more was officially opened by Her Royal Highness facilities include a new lobby, fully climate- than 100,000 men and women across Thailand on 26 April 2012. The Italianate building was controlled galleries and cases, textile-specific

View of the exhibition, For the Love of Her People: Her Majesty Queen Sirikit Creates the SUPPORT Foundation

14 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 Entrance to Fashioning Tradition: Queen Sirikit Creates a National Dress for Thailand

storage, an education studio, library, lecture system can house 10,000-15,000 items. It hall, a gift and bookstore, and Thailand’s first is fully climate-controlled to international dedicated textile conservation laboratory. standards and all objects are frozen before they INSIDE BURMA: THE ESSENTIAL are stored to eradicate possible mould and EXPERIENCE The Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles displays insect infestation. The conservation lab is a full- a broad range of textiles and dress. Important scale facility, with wet-cleaning capacity and 23 October – 11 November 2014 pieces from Her Majesty’s wardrobe tailored an infrastructure for the treatment, analysis, Burma is undergoing unprecedented change and by both leading Thai and foreign fashion exhibition, and storage preparation of the publicity. Archaeologist and TAASA contributor houses, Pierre Balmain in particular, are one collection. All of the textiles and garments on Dr Bob Hudson is the doyen of Burma guides and his longstanding annual tour program features of the highlights of the Museum’s holdings. display are exhibited in custom-designed glass extended stays in medieval Mrauk U (capital of There is also a collection of older textiles and cases. Each case is equipped with individual the lost ancient kingdom of Arakan) and Bagan, clothing from many of the minority groups of monitors providing real-time data on the exact rivalling Angkor Wat as Southeast Asia’s richest mainland Southeast Asia and a selection of humidity and temperature inside. archaeological precinct. Exciting experiences in textiles from various SUPPORT Foundation Yangon, Inle Lake, Mandalay and a private cruise down the mighty Ayeyarwady are also included. projects around the country. The QSMT fulfils Her Majesty’s desire that it Now is the time to see Burma before development serve as both a display space for Thailand’s and 'progress' change it forever. The Museum has four galleries with three textile traditions and an academic training Land Only cost per person twinshare opening exhibitions: Artistry in Silk: The Royal facility to enhance the capacity of the region ex Yangon $5975 Style of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit; Fashioning to preserve its cultural heritage. In support Tradition: Queen Sirikit Creates a National Dress of this mandate, the Museum held its first CAMBODIA: ANGKOR WAT, for Thailand, and For the Love of Her People: Her international symposium, Weaving Royal PREAH VIHEAR AND BEYOND Majesty Queen Sirikit Creates the SUPPORT Traditions through Time: Textiles and Dress at 27 October – 13 November 2014 Foundation. Artistry in Silk features more the Thai Court and Beyond from 6-9 November Angkor’s timeless grandeur is unmissable. But now than a dozen designer ensembles made from 2013. Attended by over 200 people from all Preah Vihear, the revered mountaintop temple of handwoven silk and cotton textiles produced over the world, the symposium included immense historical and political significance for by members of SUPPORT. Fashioning Tradition papers from international experts on diverse the Khmers, is finally accessible. Yet Cambodia tells the story of Her Majesty’s creation of a topics from conservation of Princess Grace of offers a host of other important cultural and travel experiences: outstanding ancient,vernacular and new national dress for Thai women. For the Monaco’s wedding dress to King Rama V’s French colonial architecture; spectacular riverine Love of Her People is a multimedia presentation collection of Indonesian batik. Australia was environments; the ongoing restoration and on the creation of the SUPPORT Foundation. well-represented by speaker Gillian Green revitalisation of Phnom Penh; culinary sensations All text in the Museum is in Thai and who discussed possible sources of royal and beautiful countryside. Expatriate museologist, English. An English catalogue for the first imagery on Thai court textiles. author, Siem Reap resident and TAASA contributor Darryl Collins and Gill Green, President of TAASA two exhibitions mentioned above, titled In and author specialising in Cambodian culture have Royal Fashion: The Style of Her Majesty Queen Piyanan (Poom) Petcharaburanin has worked as an designed and expertly co-host their longstanding Sirikit of Thailand, is now available, and an editor at the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles since annual program. English language version of the publication 2010, responsible for exhibition texts, books and Land Only cost per person twinshare to accompany the third exhibition is in press. museum publications. She wrote the Thai version of In ex Phnom Penh $5400 Thai language editions of both publications Royal Fashion: The Style of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit To register your interest, reserve a place or for are available at the Museum. of Thailand, a catalogue which accompanies the two further information contact Ray Boniface related museum exhibitions: Artistry in Silk: The Royal Style of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit and Fashioning ERITAGE ESTINATIONS The Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles is H NATURE • BUILDINGS D • PEOPLE • TRAVELLERS specifically dedicated to educating Thais Tradition: Her Majesty Queen Sirikit Creates a in the field of textile conservation and care. National Dress for Thailand. PO Box U237 University of Wollongong NSW 2500 Australia Preservation starts with proper handling and p: +61 2 4228 3887 m: 0409 927 129 storage, and the Museum is home to a state- Photographs by Mr. Anak Navaraj and Ms. Ploypailin e: [email protected] of-the-art textile storage and conservation Thapepong © Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles. ABN 21 071 079 859 Lic No TAG1747 laboratory, the first in Thailand. The storage

TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 15 The Shoso-in treasury – a royal collection both extraordinary and everyday

Robyn Maxwell

THE SHOSO-IN, TODAI-JI, NARA CIRCA 756. PHOTO: IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD AGENCY

ach year for a little over two weeks E from late October to mid-November, an exhibition of a few dozen items from a remarkable Japanese royal collection attracts huge crowds. London’s Art Newspaper reported that, over the 17 days in late 2012, the daily average attendance of 14,240 visitors, almost exclusively domestic Japanese tourists, made The 64th Annual Exhibition of the Shoso- in Treasures at the Nara National Museum the best attended exhibition worldwide (April 2013). Yet there were no complaints as the superbly organised but largely self-managed queue snaked along five abreast for an hour or so outside the modern concrete replica of the original timber repository. (In fact Yomiuri Online provides Japanese visitors with information and updates on waiting times ). Sheltered from the sometimes inclement autumn weather under specially erected canopies, time was whiled away with food and drink from temporary marquees. And the wait was richly rewarded: within the specially built modern hall the small but broad selection of 64 treasures from one of the world’s most extraordinary royal collections history of Shoso-in collection is fortunately translated in Jiro Harada 1937). The elegantly of art, household objects, documents and well documented. During the reign of the written dedication prayer in which Komyo Buddhist regalia provides a surprisingly vivid second Tempyo emperor Shomu (r. 724– laments that the sight of the objects causes her yet poignant insight into palace life in Nara, 749) the court actively sent envoys abroad immense grief, and an inventory of the objects Japan’s 8th-century capital. and was host to a number of international in the gift are among 10,000 documents that visitors, including Buddhist teachers. A form part of the Shoso-in collection, along The objects in the Shoso-in collection, exemplified devout Buddhist, it was Emperor Shomu who with manuscripts, poems, letters, calligraphic in the range of materials, techniques and types commissioned the huge Vairocana Buddha scrolls, writing implements and storage selected annually, demonstrate the superb levels (Daibutsu) for the Todai-ji temple in the boxes. Further donations continued over of craft skills of the Tempyo or Nara period of capital Nara in 743. When the emperor, who the intervening years until the death of the early Japanese history (710–794). The collection had abdicated in 749, died in 756 his grieving Empress Dowager in 760. also vividly illustrates the internationalism of widow the Empress Dowager Komyo the royal court through the variety and quantity dedicated many of the former emperor’s An important component of the Shoso-in of exotic treasures—including ceramics, textiles, personal and household effects—‘various treasures is of course Buddhist. From many glass, wood, precious metals and paintings— articles that he had handled … which are in items of the regalia used in the actual eye- from regions stretching along the busy trading truth rare national treasures’— to the Todai- opening ceremony for the Daibustu which routes from the Mediterranean Sea, the early ji (Empress Dowager Komyo’s prayer is was presided over by an Indian monk, to Islamic world, India and Southeast Asia to China and Korea. However, arguably just as significant is the window the 8th-century royal collection opens to the rich sources and varied forms of inspiration that would quickly be assimilated into Japanese arts and aesthetics. Indeed the problems of attribution of origin to many of the thousands of objects in the Shoso-in treasury is a testament to how quickly ideas, motifs, materials and techniques were exchanged and adopted by cultures along the ‘Silk Roads’, including Japan.

Possibly the oldest and undoubtedly the most intact royal collection still in existence, the INCENSE BURNER IN THE FORM OF A LOTUS, 8TH CENTURY, LACQUER AND GOLD LEAF ON WOOD, 17.0 X 56.0 CM.

SHOSO-IN COLLECTION. PHOTO: IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD AGENCY

16 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 PANEL FROM A FOLDING SCREEN, 8TH CENTURY,

STENCIL-DYED SILK, 149.5 X 57.0 CM. SHOSO-IN COLLECTION. EMPRESS KOMYO’S DEDICATION PRAYER, KOKKA CHIMPO-CHO, JAPAN, 756, SCROLL,

PHOTO: IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD AGENCY INK ON PAPER, WIDTH 25.8 CM. SHOSO-IN COLLECTION. PHOTO: IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD AGENCY

Amongst the most popular exhibits each year charming everyday, albeit gorgeous, articles are spectacular large objects used in palace belonging to members of the royal household. pastimes, such as a stringed lute, brilliantly inlaid with multicoloured mother-of-pearl, or Not only are the Shoso-in treasures astonishing a gaming boards for go decorated in delicate in terms of their quality, quantity and marquetry and accompanied by various sets variety: the fact that they have survived for of tors made of rare and expensive materials. over a millennium in a wooden building in earthquake-prone and war-ravaged Japan Crucial to this evolution was the unprecedented where fires have destroyed many important movement and rich exchange of goods, buildings and their exquisite contents is materials, designs, techniques and philosophies exceptional. Indeed the name Shoso-in was along what has come to be known as the Silk once not specific to the starkly simple 33 ordination banners, robes, incense burners, Roads across the Asian continent at its most metre-long Japanese cypress structure in the prayer beads, and implements such as vajra active and interesting period. In particular, grounds of the Todai-ji temple—in the past thunderbolt sceptres used in Buddhist rites, spectacular Persian and Chinese items feature many storehouses [shoso] were erected in the these gifts from the Empress, as she expressed prominently in the Shoso-in collection. The precincts [in] of temples and government in her prayer, were intended to speed her impeccable provenance and fascinating variety buildings. Today the term denotes the one late husband on his journey to the Western of the imported items in the Shoso-in treasury surviving example. While the remarkable Paradise. The religious paraphernalia is makes them an invaluable tool for Silk Road royal collection has now been moved to safer suitably grand, conveying a sense of the scholars. The origins of objects of a number fire-proof conditions inN ara and, in the case of spectacle that would have accompanied of items in the collections is still a matter of many of the textiles, to the National Museum Buddhist rites in court and temple. Depicting debate: a silk textile displaying archers and in Tokyo, inspecting the exterior of the original mythical creatures and imaginative floral prey, a popular Sassanian motif, might be repository is an essential part of the experience forms, the intricate polychrome lacquer and Persian, or a Tang Chinese manifestation, or of visitors to the annual exhibition of the royal gold ornamentation on each of the lotus petals indeed a Japanese domestic version—ancestor treasures Shoso-in. encircling a sumptuous large pedestal of an to the modern nishiki luxury fabric—inspired incense burner typifies this richness. by either Persian, or Chinese imports, or both. Robyn Maxwell is Senior Curator of Asian art at the National Gallery of Australia. Today, the items stored in the Shoso-in provide The 8th century was a vibrant period of a rich visual account of seasonal daily activities internationalism not only in Nara, but at other REFERENCES and recurring state ceremony. The palace major centres along the trade routes and the ‘Visitor figures 2102: Exhibition & museum attendance survey’, The Art Newspaper, No 245, April 2013 household effects range from storage cabinets, transmission and adoption of images and ‘The Shoso-in, or Imperial Repository at Nara’ in Jiro Harada, fine utensils, elaborate vessels and containers, techniques led to a fluorescence in the arts Glimpse of Japanese ideals: lectures on Japanese art and culture, soft furnishings and textiles, painted screens of many cultures. Situated at the far eastern Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai, Tokyo, 1937 and musical instruments to personal articles extremity, the Japanese court was uniquely Ryoichi Hayashi, The Silk Road and the Shoso-in, Weatherhill, New of clothing and ornamentation, and decorated placed to enjoy the Shoso-in collection. Each York, 1975 weapons. Invariably exquisitely crafted and year the Shoso-in exhibition includes both Kaneo Matsumoto, Jodai-gire : 7th and 8th century textiles in Japan in generally superb condition, the legacy is Japanese and imported works, in a wide range from the Shoso-in and Horyu-ji, Shikosha, Kyoto, 1984 remarkable for the insights it provides into of media and function, and covering overtly Shosoin Office, Treasures of the Shosoin, Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, 1965 the development of Japanese arts and crafts. Buddhist and Imperial regalia, alongside

TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 17 THE HOFFOTOGRAAF: PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHER TO indonesian ROYALTY

Gael Newton JAVANESE PRINCE, SON OF THE REGENT OF BANDUNG IN BRIDEGROOM’S DRESS C.1865, ISIDORE VAN KINSBERGEN,

ALBUMEN SILVER PHOTOGRAPH, 13.5 X 18 CM. NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA

he first portrait studios in the world T were opened in London in 1841 and Prince Albert - ever the enthusiast for new technology ­- became one of the first Royals to be photographed when he sat to daguerreotypist William Constable in Brighton in 1842. His ‘likeness’ was a private affair, daguerreotypes were one-off items with limited mass market potential. Photographs were, however, increasingly used to lend authenticity to drawn illustrations in newspapers and journals. By the late 1850s ‘from a photograph’ became a featured by- line of portraits in books and illustrated papers such as The Illustrated London News.

What made the most difference to the commercialisation of photography from the 1860s was the world-wide craze for collecting celebrity portraits and exotic ‘types’, made possible by the availability of cheap portraits on paper. In an Imperialist era, the popularity of images of exotic royals in colonial domains encouraged travelling photographers or those in foreign ports, to add these images to their inventory.

In 1859 French photographer AAE Disderi marketed portraits of Louis Napoleon III in the new miniature calling card sized carte de visite (cdv) format he had introduced in 1854, and in 1860 John Mayall marketed a set of cdv portraits of the British Royal Family in a special album that sold in hundreds of thousands all over the anglophile world. Practitioners of the new vocation of ‘daguerreian artist’, ‘photographist’ and finally ‘photographer’ were quick to apply ‘By Royal Appointment’ to their products as soon as a royal client patronised their services. A lucky few could be listed at the higher rank of royal or court grandson of the French King Louis Philippe princes and maharajas posed for and also photographer if they photographed the exiled in England, whose 1866–68 world tour took photographs from the 1850s. Chinese reigning royal family and entourage. The was made into a long running bestseller Voyage and Japanese emperors were not early concept of the royal or court photographer, autour du monde (1868) by his childhood friend enthusiasts for photography, although other the hoffotograaf in Dutch and hofphotograph and official companion Ludovic, Marquis elite aristocrats and officials in both countries in German, followed naturally throughout (later Comte) de Beauvoir. The pair visited were early experimenters. Europe from established traditions of the Java for a week in early December 1866 and de favoured royal portrait artist. Beauvoir collected locally made photographs, The Thai King Mongkut (Rama IV) was the including portraits of Javanese and Balinese earliest and most assiduous of monarchical Stationers across Asia followed suit by selling princes by Isidore van Kinsbergen. enthusiasts for the medium in Asia. He imported images of European royalty, and had the French bishop in Bangkok import a studios sought ‘By Royal Appointment’ The exchange of painted portraits between daguerreotype camera in 1847 and one of status via the patronage of local vice regal European royals and Asian monarchs was the Bishop’s priests learned to operate it. representatives or, more rarely, via visiting an established protocol by the 18th century King Mongkut received another instrument European royalty by presenting them with and this practise was promptly transferred from Queen Victoria in 1850 and actively albums of local views and personalities. to the new though less flattering, medium of sought to have his own relatives trained in An early visitor was the Duc de Penthièvre, photography in the 1850s. A number of Indian photography. His brother Vice-King Pinklao

18 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 MALE COURT DANCERS, YOGYAKARTA KRATON C.1885, KASSIAN CÉPHAS, ALBUMEN SILVER PHOTOGRAPH, 9.4 X 13.6 CM.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA and several courtiers, become adept over the next decades through training and observing foreign photographers at work.

In November 1857 Queen Victoria received a daguerreotype portrait of Mongkut – now attributed to the Thai court photographer Luang Wisut Yothamather. Being photographed was a political performance the King well understood. He also sent a daguerreotype portrait of himself and Queen Debsirindra to President Franklin Pierce in 1856 as part of an exchange of gifts honouring the 1856 Harris Thai-American Treaty of Amity and Commerce. Both portraits survive as the earliest extant photographic portraits of an Asian, indeed of any, reigning monarch. Mongkut sent similar portraits to Pope Pius IX and Napoleon III. Mongkut’s son and heir, King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) continued the interest and took up the camera personally, a practise continued by the present day King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX) (Morris (ed) 2009). known if any sought or gained access to royal published later in 1861 by Negretii & Zambra clients. Swedish itinerant daguerreotypist as expensive albumen on glass stereographs The earliest portrait photographer known and photographist Cesar Düben (1819–1888) and again as richly coloured lantern slides in the to arrive in the former Dutch East Indies reported on his visit to take photographs at the 1860s by Newton & Co using the woodburytype was Adolph Schaefer (c. 1820-73) in 1844. Kraton in Yogyakarta in January 1858 that he had process patented by Walter Woodbury in 1864. A German professional daguerreotypist photographed the family of Hamengkubuwono Illustrations after the first series were published working in The Hague, Schaefer had learned VI (r. 1855 to 1877). The Javanese princesses in The Illustrated London News, 31 July 1861 and that medical officer Juriaan Munnich in featured in one of the 15 lithographs based on included Javanese aristocrats, court dancers Jakarta had failed in his 1841 Dutch Ministry his photographs in Düben’s 1886 memoir may and musicians. Walter is also most likely the of Colonies commission to ‘test out the have been from Yogyakarta. Düben seems not maker of two half plate ambrotype portraits of heliographic apparatus in the tropics’ with to have been granted a sitting by the Sultan Hamengkubuwono VI and his principal wife a primary aim of securing daguerreotypes himself but responded to his request to instruct produced around 1858. of Javanese antiquities and the Buddhist a court member in the photographic process monument Borobudur. and presented his camera to the Sultan as a In 1879 under their successor, Walter’s younger parting gift. brother Albert Woodbury, Woodbury & Page Soon after his arrival in Jakarta, Schaefer studio acquired a ‘By Royal Appointment’ succeeded in adjusting chemistry to tropical The Hamengkubuwono royal family at status to the Dutch Crown. Their inventory conditions and was offering the elite of Batavia Yogyakarta appears to be first in Indonesia to be listed numerous royal portraits, although the new art of daguerreotype likenesses. The photographed and to have had their own official none are named and pictures of sultans following year he made views of the reliefs at photographers in the 1860s. No daguerreotype are lumped in with ‘native types’. What Borobudur, over 50 of which are held in the images are extant but the new wet-plate the sultans thought of this presumably Prentenkabinet at Leiden University Library photography on paper introduced in 1851 in demeaning hawking of their images around (Wachlin 2007: 739-741). England, which replaced the daguerreotype the world is not known. As in British India, by the 1870s, greatly facilitated the circulation the Sultans and Rajas of the Dutch East Indies None of his portraits are known to survive of images made off glass negatives. The young were never granted the status of monarchs. but Schaefer may have been the maker of a English photographers Walter B Woodbury daguerreotype that appears to be the basis for (1834–1885) and James Page (1833–1865) of the Woodbury & Page were not the only an 1853 coloured lithograph ‘Een Javaschen Woodbury & Page atelier set up in Jakarta in photographers active in Indonesia in the 1850s prins – Un prince Javanais’ (believed to be 1857 after their not very successful Australian and 60s. The Flemish-Dutch theatre performer Hamengkubuwono V r. 1820 – 1855) by colonial ventures. Walter Woodbury had and artist Isidore van Kinsbergen (1821–1905) Jakarta-based artist Auguste van Pers (1815- been acknowledged as the ‘best glass artist’ in began work in Jakarta in the mid 1850s with 1871). The image appears in the first part of the Melbourne in 1854 by his employer, the skilled French photographer AF Lecouteux (Asser et 56-plate Nederlandisch Oost-Indische typen series American daguerreotypist PM Batchelder. al 2006). Van Kinsbergen was favoured by the published by subscription in The Hague by new Dutch Colonial Governor-General, Baron lithographer CW Mieling from 1853–62. This Upon their arrival Woodbury and Page Sloet van der Beele and accompanied him on his huge undertaking includes a few plates that are determined that there was European interest 1863–65 tours of the residential districts of Java, startling in their realism and the look-to-camera in images of antiquities and the inhabitants of Madura and Bali, and the four independent royal expression of those posing for a photographer. ‘Princes Land’ in central Java. The duo made territories. By the mid 1860s, van Kinsbergen their first field trip to Yogyakarta and Surakarta had an impressive repertoire of Javanese A stream of itinerant daguerreotypists passed in 1858 and marketed their first images of ‘native types’ and royal portraits in which the through the Indies in the 1850s; it is not Indonesia in England in 1859. These were models have a strong presence as individuals.

TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 19 JAVANESE PRINCE, SON OF THE REGENT OF BANDUNG IN BRIDEGROOM’S

DRESS C.1865, ISIDORE VAN KINSBERGEN, ALBUMEN SILVER PHOTOGRAPH 13.5 X 18 CM. Djokjakarta. Court officials of Paku Alam VII bearing state regalia, c.1925, Tassilo Adam, NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA gelatin silver photograph 21 x 25.2 cm. National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

His images were widely distributed, appearing associated with the Kraton and in particular As recent scholarship has shown, King as woodcuts in a number of European and worked with the Sultan’s Dutch physician Isaac Mongkut and his descendants in Thailand American magazines but he does not appear to Groneman, a dedicated scholar of Javanese became adept at strategic diplomatic and have called himself a hoffotograaf. culture and antiquities. Groneman published ‘media management’ using gifts of official state several elaborate publications on Javanese and family portraits. Susie Protschky (2012) One of the first to claim the title of a photographer art and dance performance in the 1880s to and other researchers have demonstrated that to the kratons was sergeant major and drawing early 90s which gave prominent credit to the sultans of Indonesia, several of whom master Simon Wilhelm Camerik (1830–1897). A ‘Hoffotograaf K. Céphas’ and earned Céphas became amateur photographers in their own Banda-born Dutchman, possibly part Indonesian, honorary membership of local and Dutch right, were similarly adept. Only Hoffotograaf he may have trained in the Netherlands. He was societies. Céphas was routinely described as the Céphas, however, filled the comparable working in Semarang as a photographer by 1864 hoffotograaf Céphas in newspapers and returned continuous and active service of the European and in that year marketed a set of ‘principal to duties at the Yogyakarta kraton after 1904 as model ‘royal’ photographer. native grandees’ of Surakarta, Yogyakarta and his son Sem took over the Céphas studio. Magelang as well as some views of Prambanam Gael Newton is Senior Curator, Photography at the in the Semarang newspaper De Locomotief of 29 By the early 20th century, foreign photographers National Gallery of Australia, who has developed its August. By 1866 In the Java-Bode of 17 February, undertook the lesser role of ‘By royal collections of Asia-Pacific photography, particularly he is listed as ‘Kunstschilder en photograaf van appointment’- meaning supplier of goods and from Indonesia. This was boosted in 2006 by the Z.H. den Sultan van Djocdjacarta’ (painter and services. Such status (to the Dutch Crown) acquisition of the collection of Amsterdam rare photographer to the Sultan), an appellation also appeared on prints by the Surabaya studio of book and print dealer, Leo Haks and is showcased stamped on the backs of his cdv portraits of the Armenian photographer Ohannes Kurkdjian in the Gallery’s 2004 exhibition Garden of the East: vice regal resident Adriaan Jan Hendrik van (1851–1903) following presentation of his photographs from Indonesia 1850s-1940s, 21 der Mijll Dekker. Camerik also photographed album of the local celebrations for Dutch Queen February – 22 June. A weekend of talks and tours will the Surakarta Sultans Pakubwono IX and Wilhelmina I’s coronation in 1898, and was be held 14-15 June, see www.nga.gov.au/gardeneast. Mangkunegara IV and some of the same images retained until the studio’s closure in 1936. One appear among the ‘types’ marketed by Woodbury who did work for the four principalities in REFERENCES & Page in the miniature carte de visite format. the 1920s was German Italian ethnographic Asser, Saskia E., Wachlin, Steven, Theuns-de Boer, Gerda, 2006. Isidore van Kinsbergen, 1821-1905: Photo Pioneer and Theatre photographer Tassilo Adam (1878–1955). Maker in the Dutch East Indies. KITLV Press, Leiden Camerik ceased work as a photographer Adam worked extensively with the Sultans at Morris, R.C. (ed) 2009. Photographies East: The Camera and after 1870 but apparently taught Kassian Yogyakarta and Surakarta to make detailed Its Histories in East and Southeast Asia, Duke University Press, Céphas (1845–1912), one of the entourage of records of dance and musical performances Durham, NC.

Hamengkubuwono VI and an early member in the mid 1920s. Although not claiming the Protschky, Susie. ‘Negotiating princely status through the of the Javanese Christian Church, who became ‘hoffotograaf’ title, Tassilo Adam combined photographic gift: Paku Alam VII’s family album for Crown Princess the first and only indigenous hoffotograaf the role of favoured court photographer with Juliana of the Netherlands, 1937’, Indonesia and the Malay World, 40:118 (2012): 298-314. in the Indies. Céphas set up his own studio that of dedicated scholar. A number of his royal in his Jakarta home in 1871. By 1875 he portraits are held in the National Gallery of Steven Wachlin, ‘Indonesia (Netherlands, East Indies)’ in John Hannavy (ed) Encyclopaedia of nineteenth-century photography, was advertising his services as ‘CÉPHAS Australia’s Indonesian photographs collection Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, New York London, 2007, vol 1. Photographist … photographer to the Sultan’, and a unique set of his personal albums was pp. 739-741. in De Locomotief of 9 July. He remained closely recently acquired by the Gallery.

20 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 21 MODEST CONNOISSEUR: INDONESIAN TEXTILES IN THE LIVES OF JOHN YU & GEORGE SOUTTER

Siobhan Campbell LOIN/SHOULDER CLOTH (SELENDANG), SAVU, 60X154 CM, WOMAN’S SARONG (TAIS FETO), BELU, WEST TIMOR, MID- 1970S, COTTON, NATURAL DYES. PHOTO: TIM CONNOLLY 20TH C, COTTON, DYES, 59X135 CM. PHOTO: TIM CONNOLLY o fellow members of the TAASA T community, Dr John Yu requires very little introduction. As well as an illustrious professional career devoted to children’s medicine, he has distinguished himself with a serious commitment to the arts of Southeast Asia. A selection of Indonesian textiles from the personal collection of Dr John Yu and Dr George Soutter are the focus of an exhibition at Mosman Art Gallery in Sydney from 3 May to 13 July 2014.

Anyone who has had the privilege of visiting the home of Dr John Yu and the late Dr George Soutter will appreciate the place of Southeast Asian art in their lives. Not only are collected objects displayed throughout the house, the bookshelves are filled with catalogues and reference books while recorded gamelan music and incense hint at attempts to recreate the settings in which many of these objects originated. Unlike the ceramics, bronzes, woodcarvings and sculptures on permanent display around the house, the extent of their Indonesian textile collection is not immediately apparent to the casual gaze of a visitor. After all, there is a limit to the number of lengths of fabric that a domestic space can accommodate, so hundreds of textiles are inevitably folded, rolled and packed away in chests of drawers and crates. The process of ‘unpacking’ these pieces and selecting the 50 works to exhibit was guided by John Yu and intended as a reflection of his predilections, knowledge and tastes as a collector. loin cloth (selendang) from art dealer William and men from both groups are wrapped in a Importantly, while the couple’s generosity Burlace of the former Nomad Gallery near cloth with this motif for their funeral (2001:55). has ensured that many pieces have made Hyde Park. It was the apparent simplicity of The motif itself is said to represent a stylised their way into public collections, including the design and the depth of the indigo dye on fish, which some Savunese believe is the oldest the Art Gallery of New South Wales and this cloth from the island of Savu in Eastern motif, reminding people of a time before they the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, this Indonesia that caught John’s eye. Although had cattle and derived their living from the sea. exhibition distinguishes between individual the loin cloth and the shoulder cloth are not In this example the motif is combined with the and institutional collecting by emphasising differentiated in Savunese terminology, as white triangle (wo pudi) motif and divided by the shared passion of the couple and the way traditional attire for ceremonies a cloth like a black line through the centre and a band of the collection evolved during their lifetime this would probably be wrapped around three red and orange lines on either side. together. The present contribution is a brief the neck and shoulders with a second, long survey of some key pieces nominated by fringed rectangular cloth wrapped around the Acquiring this initial piece compelled them John for inclusion in the exhibition, intended hips (Duggan 2001: 53). to learn more about Indonesian textiles and to highlight how his collection might be shortly after, on the advice of friends, they understood as a representation of the cultures The people of Savu belong to one of two visited Bali. Their first visit to the island that produced these textiles, the places where female-origin moieties known as hubi ae, developed into an annual trip, giving shape they were collected and well as the personal the greater blossom, and hubi iki, the lesser and focus to their subsequent collecting inclinations of these two collectors. blossom, with hubi being the general term activities. By this time Bali had established for the blossom of the palm tree. Although itself as the centre of an Indonesia-wide trade The story of this textile collection begins each lineage has its own groups of motifs, the in textiles, bronzes, gold, silver, terracotta, in Sydney during the late 1970s with the diamond shape (wo hepi) motif on this cloth is ceramics and wooden objects servicing both acquisition of a man’s warp ikat shoulder or not linked to either of the female descent lines the domestic and international markets.

22 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 HIP CLOTH (KAMBEN), NORTH BALI, MID-19TH C, HANDSPUN COTTON, NATURAL DYES, GOLD THREAD, 102X170 CM. PHOTO: TIM CONNOLLY

While mass tourism was gaining momentum mica, mirrors, gimp, beads, nylon and cotton in the same period, the types of objects sold fringes. in the antique and art shops in places like Ubud, Kuta, Sanur, Denpasar and Klungkung The more common form of lamak hangings are were not generally within the purview of the ephemeral vertical runners of fresh white and average holiday-maker. This was not simply green palm leaves or coconut palm plaited due to the price of old or unusual pieces but or wrapped into geometric patterns inspired to the knowledge required to appreciate the by the natural world, representational motifs sophistication of some textiles or to purchase or combinations of the two. They are made as pieces showing visible signs of wear. adornments for altars or shrines or as underlays for offerings. The top of the hanging lies A case in point is the assortment of vertical horizontally on the shelf of the shrine and serves runners (lamak) they assembled, narrow cloths as the resting place for offerings, while the lower which between them showcase most of the decorated portion drapes vertically down the textile techniques practiced in Bali including front of the shrine. As Brinkgreve explains, a embroidery, couching, appliqué, weft ikat, lamak ‘…functions as a real base for offerings, supplementary weft weaving (songket) and but also, through its decorative function as gold-leaf (prada) decoration. Although the carrier of the cosmic motifs, as a symbolic base designs and techniques are determined by for the exchange between the different layers of regional and individual style, most cloth lamak the Balinese universe’ (1993:143). are associated with the districts of Jembrana and Buleleng in western and northern Bali. The stylised female figure (cili) with an Jembrana is also home to the tradition of elongated triangular body, long arms and a embroidered story cloths described by I Made fan-shaped headdress appears on many of Rai Artha in TAASA Review (Volume 19 No. 4 the cloth versions of lamak collected by John, December 2010) which are also embellished in including as a figure appliquéd onto a base the same manner as the lamak with sequins, of red cotton cloth. The row of small triangles

TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 23 SHRINE HANGING (LAMAK), BALI, MID 20TH C, COTTON CLOTH,

COTTON THREAD, SEQUINS, METALLIC THREAD, 21X120 CM.

PHOTO: TIM CONNOLLY

use of gold leaf, silk and imported dyes. Some in the early 20th century brought refugees have combinations of songket technique and to south Belu, including entire villages, who endek, where the plain coloured weft is resist- bought their textile motifs and patterns with dyed, such as in the breast or shoulder cloths them, explaining similarities in the cloths of (anteng or cerik) from North Bali. Belu and East Timor.

One of the less-widely seen examples from The dazzling colours on this piece, reflecting the Balinese textile tradition is a rusty-red hip the spread of chemical dyes in the 20th cloth enriched with metal threads, coarse yarn century, are dismissed by some connoisseurs and a supplementary weft floral decoration of for their ‘garish palettes’ and lack of elegance blossoms, shrubs and lozenges in the central in contrast to older sarongs (Alpert 2013: 261). panel (fig.4). Cloths like this came to be known In nominating this treasured piece we can by collectors as ‘kain Sembiran’, referring value the specificity of George and John’s to the name of a North Balinese village, and connoisseurship. Not only is there a sense of are possibly a rough interpretation of courtly their individual sensibilities with reference to silk fabrics worked in gold or silver threads. other collectors, but we can appreciate that as They are most likely the product of a Muslim- collectors they were not bound by the same Balinese workshop in North Bali (Nabholz- considerations and constraints that define Kartaschoff 2008). institutional collecting strategies. These qualities are characteristic of the membership Such professional weaving workshops were network of the TAASA community at large, located in villages such as Pengastulan, where and it is for this reason that this exhibition Muslim-Balinese women created designs that celebrates the entwined lives of two collectors were executed on the loom by Balinese-Hindu while acknowledging the larger contributions women, and traded through Muslim-Balinese that private collections make to contesting, traders to Buleleng, and probably further. enriching and substantiating current Nabholz-Kartaschoff (2008: 100) identifies understandings of Indonesian textile art. their most characteristic feature as the coarse metal thread used as supplementary weft, Encounters with Bali, A Collector’s Journey: made with narrow strips of paper, coated Indonesian Textiles from the Collection of Dr with gold leaf wrapped around a thick core. John Yu AC and Dr George Soutter AM will be appearing between the rows of flower petals In the second half of the 19th century, when exhibited at the Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney, underneath her is also common on lamak and this textile is likely to have been made, the Saturday 3 May – Sunday 13 July 2014. is called the mountain (gunung), relating to highly valued gold threads would have been Mount Meru, the centre of the universe. A imported to Bali through dealers in Singapore. Siobhan Campbell recently completed her PhD on separate panel at the bottom has been executed the Forge Collection of Balinese Art at the Australian in supplementary weft weaving (songket) In common with other collectors of Indonesian Museum in Sydney. She is curating this exhibition featuring three courtly figures on mounts. The textiles, part of the appeal of assembling a with assistance from the Curatorial Support Initiative, cili figure is often associated with Dewi Sri, the collection like this is to appreciate the history administered by Museum & Galleries NSW on behalf Hindu deity of rice and agriculture, fertility of Indonesia as a maritime archipelago. of the NSW Government. and prosperity, yet may be understood more Even though they regard each piece in widely as a symbol of both women and men. their collection as a compelling work of REFERENCES This may explain why, on a second example in art, attributing a sense of identity to the Brinkgreve, Francine (1993). ‘The Woven Balinese Lamak Reconsidered.’ In Nabholz-Kartaschoff, Barnes and Stuart-Fox a supplementary weft pattern, the two small anonymous artists behind their textiles has (eds). Weaving Patterns of Life. Indonesian Textile Symposium 1991. cili standing side by side refer to the newly meant recognising the complex geographic Museum of Ethnography, 135-152, Basel. wed couple (lamak nganten). Although they and cultural origins of the pieces. Duggan, Geneviève (2001). Ikats of Savu: Women Weaving History have an identical feminine form the one on in Eastern Indonesia. White Lotus Press, Bangkok. the left is meant to be the woman, the right the Their desire to learn more about the Nabholz-Kartaschoff, Marie-Louise (2008) ‘The Textiles of man (Brinkgreve 1993: 141). A third example communities who created these textiles grew Sembiran.’ In Burials, Texts and Rituals: Ethnoarchaeological features a central cili figure holding a parasol over time, if only for the purpose of classifying Investigations in North Bali, Indonesia. Hauser-Schäublin, & Ardika (eds). Universitatsverlag Göttingen, Göttingen, 69-117. in each hand, while three little rows of triangles their collection, yet this mission was certainly form the bottom half of her skirt. Two smaller not an ethnographic one in the conventional Schefold, Reimar in collaboration with Alpert, Steven G. (2013). Eyes of the Ancestors: The Arts of Island Southeast Asia at the figures, mounted on horses, appear on either sense. When George purchased a woman’s Dallas Museum of Art. Dallas Museum of Art Publications, Yale side of the cili. sarong (Tais Feto) about 35 years ago, he was University Press, New Haven.

fascinated by the figures and the patchwork- Yeager, Ruth Marie & Jacobson, Mark Ivan (2002). Textiles of The latter have much in common with the like appearance. These arresting raised Western Timor: Regional Variations in Historical Perspective. many elaborate silk textiles associated with geometric designs are achieved by a process White Lotus Press, Bangkok. the Balinese royal courts into which patterns of winding weft threads around strands of the are woven with supplementary weft threads warp yarns, a technique known as buna by the (songket), still produced in Balinese villages Atoni language groups of West Timor. This including Gelgel and Sidemen. John and George textile comes from Malaka, in the southern collected many examples of these, characterised half of Belu regency in West Timor (see Yeager by their bold colour schemes and sumptuous & Jacobson 2002: 317). Rebellion in East Timor

24 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 25 ROYAL ART IN THE COLLECTION OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA

L'OISEAU DANS L'ESPACE [BIRD IN SPACE] C.1931 36, Melanie Eastburn CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI, FRANCE. BLACK MARBLE, WHITE MARBLE,

LIMESTONE, SANDSTONE, 184.0 X 44.0 CM; 193.3 X 51.4 CM.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA mong the many treasures of the National a time when considerable European influence A Gallery of Australia (NGA) are some can be seen in the art of an innovative group exceptional works of art that were once held in of Thai painters who incorporated western royal collections in Thailand, India, Indonesia, perspective, landscapes, architecture and Sri Lanka and Cambodia. Although acquired people into their art. Images from the Story of for their quality and aesthetic appeal rather Inao depicted on the screen include elaborate than the nobility of their past owners, their royal processions of the royal entourage and regalia- connections certainly add to the richness of their filled battles set against recognisableB angkok stories. These diverse works of art range in date landmarks such as the Grand Palace and the from the early 11th to the 20th century and were famous Temple of the Emerald Buddha. created in media significant to the cultures and times in which they were made. More intimate scenes show Busaba and her companions bathing in a stream, unaware One of the most recent acquisitions is an they are being watched by Inao and friends; extraordinary six-fold Thai screen. It was the launch of a little boat enclosing a created for the Thai royal family around miniature figure holding a love message from 1862 and is intricately painted on both sides Inao to Busaba; worshipping and dancing at with dramatic scenes from the romance of Buddhist shrines; and numerous instances the handsome prince Inao and his beloved in which the charming but duplicitous Inao Busaba. The distinctive Thai version of the plays tricks to get his own way. The poses and story, which was inspired by the Javanese Tale costumes of the figures reflect those used in to one of the NGA’s most renowned and of Panji, was interpreted in poetry by King Thai dance theatre, while the floral border of admired installations: its two Brancusi Rama II (r. 1809–1824). It became a popular the screen replicates the designs on textiles Bird in space sculptures. The hand coloured favourite and was particularly enjoyed by created in India and traded to the royal courts photograph from around 1918 was probably his granddaughter, Queen Somanas (c. 1833– of Thailand. The screen was for many years taken by Gopinath Devare, photographer to 1851). The young queen died shortly after the in the collection of Rama V’s brother Prince the father of the sitters, Maharaja Tukoji Rao birth of her only child, a son who lived only a Bhanurangsi (1859–1928) who held it high III of Indore (now part of Madhya Pradesh). few hours, and the screen is likely to have been regard and posed in front of it for a number of commissioned in her memory by her husband official photographs, including one taken by Yeshwant Rao Holkar (1908–1961) had a King Mongkut, Rama IV (r. 1851–1868). Bangkok-based German photographer Robert passion for international art and architecture Lenz in 1898. and in 1930, while in his early 20s, In 1858 Rama IV requested the building of commissioned a stylish modernist palace for Wat Somanas Rajavaravihara in Bangkok One royal photograph in the Gallery’s himself known as Manik Bagh, Jewel Gardens. as a memorial to his queen. Like the screen, collection, a sensitive portrait of the young Among the works of art acquired for the the temple features murals illustrating scenes Indian Prince Yeshwant Rao Holkar Bahadur palace were three sculptures by Romanian- from the Story of Inao. Both were painted at and his sister Manorama Raje, has a connection born artist Constantin Brancusi, each called

SKIRT CLOTH [KAIN PANJANG] 1960 69, KANGJENG RADEN TUMENGGUNG HARDJONAGORO, SURAKARTA, JAVA, INDONESIA. COTTON, NATURAL DYES; HAND DRAWN BATIK. 105.5 X 254 CM.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA

26 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 SHIVA 1010 50, KHMER PEOPLE, THAILAND OR CAMBODIA.

BRONZE, SILVER AND BLACK GLASS; GLASS INLAY, MERCURY

AMALGAM GILDING, 52.5 X 12.0 X 12.0 CM.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA

Hardjonagoro in the 1960s and a number of generally identified as a representation of other textiles created for Indonesia’s courts. the great Hindu god Shiva. While it has a prominent central third eye, a distinctive Born Go Tik Swan, (1931–2008), K.R.T. attribute of Shiva, much of the iconography of Hardjonagoro was a high-ranking official of the sculpture is enigmatic, making it difficult Kasunanan Palace, Surakarta (Solo) in central to determine the identity of the image with Java. Considered an expert on Javanese arts certainty. Due in part to the different earrings and culture, and a man of exquisite taste, adorning each ear, the sculpture was earlier Hardjonagoro began his career as a dancer. described as Harihara, a combination of Shiva His textile work reinvigorated Javanese batik, and Vishnu usually divided vertically down drawing on traditional imagery and combining the centre, with elements of the established it with vibrant design, a breadth of regional iconography of each deity clearly represented. inspirations and strong colour. A particularly This sculpture is unusual as it doesn’t hold any bold example of his work, created for royal identifying objects and its headdress, which wear and dyed in one of Surakata’s two palace may have provided clues to identity, is missing. workshops, is currently on display in the NGA’s A similar, though much larger, sculpture in the Southeast Asian gallery. The skirt cloth features collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art a lively pattern of crowned naga serpents, a in New York is also dated to the 11th century symbol of aristocracy, power and fertility in Java. and has an equally uncertain identity.

Also included in the Iwan Tirta collection are An incomplete inscription (registered as K. a group of enormous ceremonial dodot skirt 1064, Corpus of Khmer Inscriptions, CIK) cloths, including one particularly fine example around the base of the Gallery’s sculpture made in Surakata in the 19th century. The reads: “....Viralakshmi to the god of the temple. plain white diamond-shaped central field is Those who maintain the upkeep of the god of surrounded by a remarkably intricate gold the temple are the people of Prthivindrapura on indigo design incorporating a plethora of and Prthivindralaya”. This suggests that the creatures such as scorpions, crickets, beetles, sculpture was commissioned by Viralakshmi, birds, snakes, water snails, crabs, rodents and the queen of Suryavarman I who ruled bats. Each corner displays a pair of wings, a from 1002 to 1050. Among the best-known courtly symbol related to the mythical Hindu monuments associated with Suryavarman I man-bird, garuda. Such dodot textiles are are Phimeanakas at Angkor Thom and Preah included in important ceremonies and believed Vihear, a temple dedicated to Shiva, the to be auspicious and to provide protection ownership of which has long been a subject from malevolence. Accordingly, they are worn of dispute between Cambodia and Thailand. by Javanese royal couples as part of wedding L’oiseau dans l’espace (Bird in space) and created ritual, as well as by court dancers. The locations of Prthivindrapura and between 1931 and 1936. Two of the works, one Prthivindralaya have yet to be recorded but in white marble and the other in black, were Even more voluminous is a recently purchased with continued scholarly commitment to purchased from the Maharaja’s estate in 1973 Sri Lankan heirloom skirt cloth which is over Khmer art, epigraphy and bronze production for the collection of what would become the 4.5 metres long and known as a kukula somana sites, it seems likely that they will eventually National Gallery of Australia, almost a decade because its central field is surrounded by be revealed, along with the sculpture’s before its official opening in 1982. Installed rooster (kukala) motifs. During the period of place of manufacture. The gilded image is in their own pool, the two elegant Bird in the Kandyan kings (1473–1815), textiles of this beautifully modelled, with regal jewellery, space sculptures are on permanent display in type were the exclusive preserve of nobility. a richly embellished skirt cloth (sampot) and Canberra and Manik Bagh is currently used as Occasionally kings presented elements of their extraordinary hair styled in rows punctuated the Office of the Commissioner, Customs and own royal dress as a mark of public honour by lines of rosettes. Although the headdress, Central Excise. to worthy recipients. Such gifts were not to be bow at the back of the sampot, a section of the worn but were kept as markers of high status. inscription and the attributes once held are The Gallery has a long-established This kukula somana was presented to Velivita now missing, and the iron rods in the legs have commitment to Indonesian textiles and in Sangharaja Saranankara Maha Thero by King swelled over time, cracking the surrounding 1984 acquired 126 textiles from the private Sri Vijaya Rajasighe (1739–1747) and remained bronze, the figure continues to possess collection of celebrated Indonesian batik in the Velivita family for over 200 years. It is not considerable presence and magnetism. designer Iwan Tirta (1935–2010). As well certain whether the cloth was made in Sri Lanka as creating his own work and playing an or produced along India’s Coromandel coast to Acquired over a period of almost 40 years, it is instrumental role in the revival of batik as appeal to Sri Lankan tastes. While Indian trade a great privilege to have these magnificent and art and fashion in Indonesia in the 1970s textiles are well known and relatively abundant, varied works of art, created for royal patrons and 80s, Iwan Tirta built a large high-quality cloths made in Sri Lanka are considerably rarer in South and Southeast Asia using bronze, collection of Indonesian textiles, especially and less well documented. cloth, paper and paint, in the collection of the batik, from various periods and created for National Gallery of Australia. a range of purposes. Included in the group Another magnificent work of art with royal are a selection of skirt cloths (kain panjang) connections in the Gallery’s collection is an Melanie Eastburn is Curator of Asian art at the created by Kangjeng Raden Tumenggung 11th century Khmer gilded bronze figure, National Gallery of Australia.

TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 27 BOOK REVIEW: PHOTOGRAPHING INDIA’S PRINCES

Jim Masselos

been associated with the Alkazi Collection other hand coloured photographs suggests of Photography in Delhi and established in that traditional artists were not immediately 2005 the Anokhi Museum of Hand Printing replaced by photography and that they in Jaipur. Most importantly he curated a path- continued to have some role in the princely breaking photographic show, Long Exposure: courts. Nevertheless since the photos are the Camera at Udaipur, 1857-1957, in a newly portraits privileging the royal families, restored gallery in the palace at Udaipur in collectively they convey messages about royal 2009 and has been a key player in assessing, lineages and promote the status and sense of restoring and displaying royal photographic power attaching to royal families as much as collections elsewhere in India. This they give us an appreciation of the skill of the magnificent and lavish volume summarises photographers. his efforts. It begins with a foreword from the Posing for Posterity. Royal Indian Portraits current Rana Mewar, Arvind Singh Mewar, or, Had such photos been taken by Europeans, Pramod Kumar KG as he describes himself, the 76th Custodian, the presentation of rajas in magnificent I.B. Tauris and Roli Books, New Delhi, 2012 House of Mewar, Udaipur: both a reminder court costume would probably be classed RRP USD 55, hard cover, 256 pages that his is one of the world’s longest surviving as Orientalist, representing a European royal lineages, and an assertion of his role fascination for an exoticised India. But these These days, paintings from the former as custodian of the bulk of the photographs photos were not taken to record the European princely states of India are extensively reproduced here. imperial gaze over a fantasised alien Other. represented in museum holdings around the They were made for patrons who wanted world but surprisingly few remain with the Kumar follows with a consideration of the depictions of themselves in their daily routine royal families who had supported the artists role of the portrait in traditional Indian art and largely for their own and their friends’ use: over the centuries. The situation is different for and in the history of photography on the here is an Indian gaze taking in what one class photographers the maharajas patronised from subcontinent, and discusses its place in of Indians wanted to record of themselves. the time when the medium first came to India princely family life. Much of his 21-page That what was commonplace and routine for in the mid 19th century. Their photographs introduction draws on that first Udaipur maharajas involved holding court and being have remained largely in royal hands. exhibition. It is followed by over 200 pages with dressed up nobles is another matter. of large, gloriously reproduced images which The critical time for the princes was in the 1970s also tap into various princely collections, as There is an occasional image in the book that when the government of India eliminated their well as the V&A, the British Library, other breaks the usual praxis. One is a haunting, privy purses. To maintain financial viability, institutions and private collections. cryptic image of the Maharani of Gondal they sold whatever they could. Buyers and standing but looking down pensively, or dealers wanted paintings, decorative art And what treasures are revealed! There is a sadly, at a book open on a chair beside her items, and objets de vertu rather than serried solitary woman ruler, the Begum of Bhopal, (p.119). And there is a self portrait of the piles of browning, fading photographs. So and many male rulers. There are wives in Maharaja of Jaipur taken around 1860 which while a maharaja’s processional festival their zenana quarters, children in formal pose, has him at morning worship half naked in the regalia might end up in a museum or even be and distinguished visitors at functions and at garb of a priest (p.140), a world away from the found on elephants parading in an Australian leisure. They document royal personages in elaborate dress of other portraits. circus, the photographs of the processions all their dynastic splendour posing in studios themselves stayed with the rulers. in full ceremonial dress, dynastic pomp at its This book brings together different elements best. Some images catch a fleeting moment, a in a handsomely produced volume that looks What was left in India’s royal collections was memory of an occasion – for instance the kill like a silver casket, with its solidly silvered thus in part determined by the fortunes of at a game hunt, a shikar. Such kills were not page ends. It constitutes a manual for the taste and the vagaries of art markets. The work limited to adult men as shown in a portrait practice of elite studio photography and of royal photographers was not then much of the Maharani of Baroda standing rifle in illustrates the range of poses favoured by the appreciated, apart from the Hyderabad-based hand over a dead tiger or in an image of three studios of the day. There is much to enjoy in photographer Raja Deen Dayal. In contrast, the Bikaner princes, not even in their teens, resting the volume, though it is a pity it has neither a output of British and European photographers their guns on a dead leopard (pp.98 and 99). table of contents nor an index. Without them, recording Indian subjects was prized. So to our tracing a particular lineage through the pages benefit, large royal collections of photographs Some interesting points emerge from the becomes a chore as is trying to follow the remained largely untouched and only over frequent appearance of photos that have been work of particular photographers. the past couple of decades have they begun to hand coloured. Two versions of a photo of the come into public view. Maharaja of Rewa from 1880 side by side in the Jim Masselos is Honorary Reader in History at the book (pp.148-9) enable comparison between University of Sydney. One of the people heavily involved in an original sepia print, and one that has been liberating these photographs is Pramod over painted, re-creating the rich colours Kumar, author of Posing for Posterity. He has of clothing and jewels. The reproduction of

28 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 29 TAASA MEMBERS’ DIARY RECENT TAASA ACTIVITIES MARCH - MAY 2014

Guided Tour – Encounters with Bali: TAASA TEXTILE STUDY GROUP, viewing entries for the first Korean-Australia A Collector’s Journey SYDNEY Arts Foundation Arts Prize. 24 May 2014, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney Does the Devil wear black? 2.30 pm Walkthrough with Collector Dr 13 November 2013 Gill Green, TAASA President, welcomed John Yu and Curator Siobhan Campbell. In this talk, Marianne Hulsbosch investigated members to this popular annual event which where the concept of white is good and black rounded off the varied program for the year. 14 – 15 June Excursion to Canberra is evil originated and how this manifested in TAASA is grateful for the assistance of Juno Do, A Canberra event is being organised for Ambon, a remote island east of the Indonesian Exhibition and Program Manager at the KCO. TAASA members which will include curator archipelago. Portuguese Jesuit missionaries led tours of two exhibitions at the NGA and and the Dutch Protestant ministers who TAASA VICTORIA END OF YEAR PARTY, other activities. More details to come but put arrived there in 1599 introduced their own MELBOURNE these dates in your diary! clothing systems, using dress as a symbol of 5 December 2013 TAASA IN VICTORIA social, cultural and economic control. It was a full house for TAASA Victoria’s end- Guided tour of the Chinese Museum, of-year party at the elegant new premises Cohen Place, Melbourne. The oppressive and restricting black dress of The Joshua McClelland Print Room at Saturday 22 March 2014, 10.30am – 11.45am. adopted by the indigenous people was in Rathdowne Galleries in North Carlton. Followed by lunch at 12.00 in Chinatown. stark contrast with the fashionable gaily- Mrs Joan McClelland and her daughters Cost for museum tour $10, $8 concession. coloured summer cotton dresses and white Trish Williams and Philippa Kelly hosted Further details will be sent to members suits of the Europeans who lived there: TAASA members and guests, and we shortly. For more information contact Boris a visual separation enforced by colonial enjoyed viewing the fascinating range of Kaspiev: vic.taasa@gmail or 0421 038 491 attitudes. The presentation generated a lively contemporary and antique pieces on view. discussion to finish the evening. TAASA TEXTILE STUDY GROUP Mrs McClelland, who as most members Wednesday 12 March, 6-8pm TAASA END OF YEAR PARTY, SYDNEY would know has been a passionate advocate PLC Room Powerhouse Museum, Sydney 4 December 2013 for Asian art in Melbourne for more than A Tale of Two Cities: Modernity and its TAASA’s Sydney end-of-year party was held 60 years, spoke about some of her favourite expression in early 20th century textiles at the Korean Cultural Office in Elizabeth ceramics on display. We were also pleased in SE Asia: A number of intriguing textiles Street, Sydney by kind invitation of Director to honour her recent 100th birthday with dated to the early 20th C depict symbols Dong-Ok Lee. Over 80 members enjoyed a a special toast. Thanks to Mrs McClelland, of modernity – buildings, cars, bicycles convivial evening which included a short Trisha Williams and Philippa Kelly for a among them. They are found on batik performance of traditional Korean songs generous and enjoyable opportunity to from Java, and on tie dyes from Cambodia and Korean drums by Hyung-sik Shin and celebrate the finish of the year. – two regions some 2000km apart. In this presentation, Gill Green will explore their origins and interrelationships. TAASA AGM and TAASA Oration Details of TSG meetings planned for 9 April 14 May 2014, 6-8pm, COFA, Paddington, Sydney and 7 May will be circulated when available. Following a brief AGM, Professor David Christian, Department of Modern History, Macquarie University, will present TAASA’s inaugural Oration, an annual event initiated TAASA CERAMICS STUDY GROUP to introduce distinguished speakers and provide a forum for their ideas and projects. Tuesday 11 March 2014, 6-8pm High Tech Seminar room, F20, COFA, Prof. Christian’s research area covers Inner Eurasia (Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia). Oxford St Paddington Sydney. He is Director of the Big History Institute at Macquarie University and co-founder with Bill Gates of the Big History Project, an ambitious attempt to bringing together the An exploration of Vietnam’s Ly and Tran knowledge available in many different scholarly disciplines. ceramics (1009-1400) in their historical Members will be sent full details closer to the date. context. The focus of this talk by Kerry Nguyen- Long will be glazed ceramics made in the Ly TAASA IN QUEENSLAND and Tran which in form and motif are very Current and former TAASA Queensland members and QAGOMA curatorial staff much a product of their cultural milieu and welcomed TAASA President Gill Green to an afternoon tea held on 19 January, to launch on that account distinctive to this period. The a calendar of Brisbane events for the year ahead. The 2014 calendar is currently being talk will cover the physical features of these finalised, including visits and handling sessions with interstate dealers andAsian art ceramics, supported with illustrated examples. specialists, artist talks at leading commercial galleries, invitations to view and handle Members are invited to bring Vietnamese some special private Brisbane collections and special advanced invitations to related ceramic pieces to share and discuss. public programs at QAGOMA. Please contact James MacKean for more information at: Refreshments provided. $15 members, [email protected]. $20 non members. RSVP: Margaret White at [email protected].

30 TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 WHAT’S ON: MARCH - MAY 2014 A SELECTIVE ROUNDUP OF EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS

Compiled by Tina Burge

ACT NSW Ali to represent the contemporary art of Afghanistan. His work considers familial Garden of the East: photography in Afghanistan: hidden treasures from the ties, the Hazara people and culture, and Indonesia 1850s–1940s National Museum, Kabul the emergence of a lawless society in 21 February - 22 June 2014 7 March – 15 June 2014 Afghanistan. In addition to these social National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney issues, Khadim Ali revisits recurrent themes in his work, such as the construction of Over 200 works including many new During the turmoil that followed the 1979 morality (good and evil) and ethnic, racial acquisitions will be on view in this first Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of and religious fanaticism. The exhibition art museum survey of the development the Taliban in 1996, the director and curators is comprised of new works including of photographic art in Southeast Asia. The of the National Museum in Kabul risked their handmade carpets (woven in Kabul), exhibition includes a wide array of formats lives to keep the museum’s most precious photographs, drawings, video and of 19th and early 20th century photography: objects from being destroyed. These were miniature paintings. from miniature cartes de visite to panoramas secreted in the central bank vaults at the For further information go to: and massive presentation albums of presidential palace, with multiple keys given www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au commercial views; handmade family to a few brave custodians, known as ‘key- albums and illustrated books. Garden of the holders’. The surviving treasures date from VICTORIA East includes work by the pioneer, mostly 2200BCE to 200AD, and include important European, photographers in Indonesia such as archaeological finds from four significant Silk Wang Gongxin, Video Artist Walter Woodbury and Isidore van Kinsbergen. Route sites. Among the precious objects are National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne It also has a special focus on works by Bronze Age gold pieces; hundreds of ancient 11 April – 28 September 2014 Javanese professional, Kassian Céphas, the coins; and the famous ‘Bactrian hoard’, a first indigenous photographer of note. collection of some 20,000 gold, silver, and The exhibition features three large scale ivory artefacts from burial plots at Tillya Tepe immersive video works from Beijing born Events in association with the exhibition in northern Afghanistan. artist Wang Gongxin. Initially trained as a include: In the lecture series across three Saturdays socialist-realist style oil painter, he began 1 March 2:00 pm, Curator’s perspective: from 22 March to 5 April archaeologists and to produce video art in 1993 and is credited Gael Newton, Senior Curator Photography museum experts discuss important ethical as one of the first artists to have created a and exhibition curator will outline her and practical issues raised by the exhibition. site-specific video installation in China in approach to the exhibition. the mid-1990s. As a first generation Chinese 20 March, 12:45 pm, Japanese woodblock Khadim Ali - The Haunted Lotus video artist, Wang Gongxin has commented prints: Dr Olivia Meehan, Lecturer, Art History, 6 March – 1 June 2014 that his concerns are ‘social’ and concerned ANU, speaks about Yoshitoshi’s series of bijin- Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney with political and social issues, as well as ga, or pictures of beautiful women, Thirty-two history and tradition. aspects of customs and manners (1888). In association with Afghanistan: Hidden For further information go to: 4 May 2:30 pm: Auslan sign–interpreted tour Treasures, AGNSW has commissioned www.ngv.vic.gov.au of Garden of the East. the Afghani-Australian artist Khadim Stars of the Tokyo stage: 6 May 12:45 pm, Indonesian photographer, Natori Shunsen’s kabuki actor prints Kassian Céphas (1845–1912): Gael Newton 8 May – 28 June 2014 discusses his remarkable career. Free. RMIT Gallery, Melbourne 18 May 1:30 pm: Traditional Indonesian dance performance supported by the The prints reveal the dynamic world of Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia. Japan’s kabuki theatre through superb actor June 14 -15: Borobodur to Bali, a special portraits created by artist Natori Shunsen events weekend for 'Garden of the East’ (1886–1960) in the 1920s and 30s. A selection and 'Finding your place in the world: recent of kabuki robes from the NGA’s recently contemporary Asian photomedia’. Curator acquired collection from a Japanese theatre tours, talks and screenings. Saturday 14 June, company illustrates the extravagance of this seminar day with FX Harsono and Alex theatrical form. The exhibition will return to Supartono, Indonesian scholar on historical the NGA from 19 July- 12 October 2014. perspectives. Saturday afternoon - TAASA For more information go to: members’ reception. www.rmit.edu.au/rmitgallery For more information go to: www.nga.gov.au

THE HAUNTED LOTUS, KHADIM ALI, 2013. GOUACHE,

INK AND GOLD LEAF ON PAPER. COPYRIGHT THE ARTIST.

COURTESY MILANI GALLERY, BRISBANE. TAASA REVIEW VOLUME 23 NO.1 31