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Lot 689
Medicine container "naga barsarang"
Estimated Value:
1.500 € - 2.500 €
Result:
incl. Premium and VAT
Description:
Indonesia, Sumatra North, Toba-Batak, 19th/early 20th cent.L. 53 cm
Horn. Wood. A large, old magic horn with a strong patina. The surface shows a strong patina that indicates use. The horn, or rather the body, shows the fluted profile typical of buffalo horns, the wooden lid is fitted precisely. The typical ancestor figure sits at the end of the horn; three squatting (ancestor) figures are grouped in a row on the upturned neck of the singa. The mouth of the singa sits on the head of another ancestor figure with its hands around its knees. This motif has - at least directly - nothing to do with being eaten, as it appears at first glance, but symbolizes protection and, above all, rites of passage, as the singa embodies the lower or afterworld. As all life passes through three world levels - the lower, middle and (after the corresponding rites of passage) the upper world - the mouth or body of the singa represents the earth, which transforms and renews all life. The similarity of the singa to horses is sometimes more, sometimes less pronounced, but always present. The Batak are or were once passionate horsemen and also have their own horse breeds. Riding and horse breeding were brought to Sumatra by the Batak ancestors from the Austronesian areas of origin in the early Metal Age. The protective and ancestral deity singa represents the horse, the Indian naga and sometimes the Chinese dragon; the face usually has anthropomorphic features, with the lower part often combining a frontal human mouth and a lower animal mouth.
Collected from an old German private collection since the 1950s - Slight signs of wear, the carrying cord connecting the lid and body has been replaced
