A INVORY KERIS HILT (UKIRAN, DEDER)

Description:

Bali (South-), late 19th /early 20th c.
H. ca. 10 cm
Outstanding handle, depicting the Uma-Kali, shakti (female equivalent of Shiva Bhairava) as Durga, i.e. in her punishing, destructive emanation as the "mother of all witches". The arch-witch Rangda is depicted in all her demonic power with fangs, long hair, flaming tongue hanging out and oversized hands as a child-eater on the bhoma pedestal, with a child's corpse in her arms. The flared foot refers to the supernatural or otherworldly origin of the goddess. The handle shows a fine honey-coloured patina and the carving (togog/deling) is meticulously executed with a knife (not with modern carving tools). As the mistress of all demons, Durga feeds on corpses and lives in graveyards. She holds corpses or parts of corpses in her arms, the flames of power streaming from her torn open maw. The large hands with long, claw-like fingernails are clearly recognisable. The tumpal triangle is carved out at the base, which has a vaginal symbolism according to Shakti tantric cosmology and is usually carved as a stylised lotus blossom with a pistil and the bintulu eye that repels evil. The stylised jewelled base refers to the divine status. Shaktism is a form of tantric Hinduism that refers to the female gods or the goddess. In this form of religion, this so-called Shakti, the primordial force of the universe conceived as female, has a prominent role in salvation and in the world process, in which the male deity only acts through his energy, which is Shakti. The position of the goddesses varies within the individual cults. She can represent the Supreme One or the philosophical central concept, be the attribute of a male all-god or an autonomous, kind or cruel mother goddess.
From an old German private collection, assembled since the 1950s - The EU trade certificate for the sale of this lot is available - Very minor wear
Lit.: Ramseyer, U.(1977): Bali. Leben in zwei Welten. Zürich - IFICAH (2015): Götter-Schmiede. Balinesische Zeremonialklingen im kulturellen Kontext. Wohlesbostel