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Lot 681
Container for heirlooms and jewellery, "hombung"
Estimated Value:
3.000 € - 5.000 €
Result:
incl. Premium and VAT
Description:
Indonesia, Sumatra North, Toba-Batak, 19th cent.H. 10,8 cm, B. 20,5 cm, T. 7,8 cm
Brass. An elegant container for valuables with a sliding lid, skilfully crafted in several parts in yellow cast iron in a lost form. The surface is decorated with ornamental bands and partially polished; it shows a beautiful, undamaged patina from age. Among the Toba-Batak, hombung is the common name for chests used to store heirlooms, weapons, jewellery and sacred books. They are usually made of hardwood. A yellow moulded finish, as on this precious specimen, is very unusual and indicates that it was used by a high-ranking person. It was probably used to hold important pieces of jewellery, such as those exchanged at weddings and as part of clan alliances between nobles and clan heads. Metal objects of prestige, which also included knives, tobacco pipes and heavy jewellery chains, had inherent spiritual significance, which was partly due to the material itself. The essential design elements of the container are modelled on the boat shape commonly found on Lake Toba, giving the objects stored in it an astral, otherworldly significance, as boats are commonly associated with soul travel. Against this background, the figure crouching on a singa head can also be interpreted with reservations as an ancestor effigy, which thus functions in a figurative sense as a guardian for the precious objects inside the container. The two side applications of the container are also designed as stylised singa elements. The figure's head is heavily worn, indicating many years of use. North Sumatran yellow-cast works such as this one can always be attributed to the Toba-Batak. The mastery of this technique can look back on a tradition of well over 2000 years. Objects from Yunnan, a presumed area of origin of the Batak cultures, show similar techniques.
Collected from an old German private collection since the 1950s - Slight signs of age and use
