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Lot 713
Priest's staff "tongkat malehat"
Estimated Value:
1.500 € - 2.500 €
Result:
incl. Premium and VAT
Description:
Indonesia, Sumatra North, Batak (Karo), 19th cent.L. 155 cm
Wood, hair (horse), textile band. An old staff with strong patina, which was an attribute of a high-ranking priest and shaman (datu) of the Batak. The fully carved staff depicts a rider sitting on a horse-like singa. The staff belongs to the tongkat malehat type, which differs from the fully carved tunggal panaluan staffs in that the shaft of the staff is smooth and only the upper part is sculpted, although this is sometimes very opulent and expressive. The large top is exposed separately. At the feet of the singa or singa-like horse, a series of stylized ancestor figures can be seen all around, which the rider magically strengthens. Below this is another crouching ancestor figure. The rider's mop of hair and the upraised tail of the singa meet at the rider's back. The disproportionately large head of the main figure is adorned with a tuft of horse hair and a faded red strip of cloth. It is said that magical substances were placed under the band. The tongue hangs out of the open mouth of the singa in an ominous gesture, extended into an abstract ornament; a gesture that is widespread and is probably best known today from the New Zealand Maori. The staff has a strong organic patina and appears to have been used for a long time. It dates back to the 19th century.
Collected from an old German private collection since the 1950s
The tongkat / tunggal sticks are among the internationally renowned ceremonial tools of the Batak priests. Like the sacred ancestral effigies and the magic horns, they had to be animated with a mysterious organic substance (pupuk), allegedly made from the head and other human body parts, before they could develop their magical powers. However, staffs as insignia of rank and metaphysical power are not specifically “Batakian”. Staffs are, for example, also common as rank insignia among Dayak. They are also worn by Iban-Dayak, who according to their own tradition came from Sumatra, as insignia of status by older men, bards and shamans. The tongkat is probably the older type of staff, which is already depicted in an astonishingly similar way on bronze depictions over 2000 years old from the presumed area of origin of the Batak, Yunnan at the foot of the Himalayas
