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Lot 723
A GROUP OF JEWELLERY ELEMENTS "TAIGANJA"
Estimated Value:
1.500 € - 2.500 €
Result:
incl. Premium and VAT
Description:
Sulawesi, South, Toraja, 18th/19th cent.L. 5 - 8,5 cm
Coloured metal. Fünf jewellery elements of the Toraja on Sulawesi. They are essentially based on an anthropomorphic form with a strongly emphasised midriff (most clearly visible on the upper pair). There are various motifs in the elaboration and the interpretations vary from region to region on Sulawesi. On the one hand they are said to symbolise purity, wealth and invulnerability, on the other hand they serve as decoration on the girls' headbands for the transition into adulthood. They were also pieces of jewellery for noble women in Muslim coastal regions or gifts for the bride's parents. For weddings, they were also worn in groups on gold chains as a necklace around the neck. Because of the magical powers of the taiganja, they were kept in special jewellery boxes in the house.
Collected from an old German private collection since the 1950s
There are a number of interpretations for the shape of the taigania, which are basically to be seen as stylized female sexual organs and symbolize fertility. The design, which often consists of spheres, especially around the rim and the central opening (lower pair), is referred to as “human eggs”, while the spikes often found around the rim (middle piece) are veiled as crab claws or ears of rice. Originally, this is probably an attenuation of a makkara head or an aquatic primordial dragon with pronounced teeth. This would obviously mean that a strong apotropaic symbol - the makkara or sea dragon, as a mythical primordial serpent often also the addressee of the sacrifice - protects the central motif of the vagina embodying birth. Taiganja are associated with marriage and fertility in the context of adat. Taiganja are also important for gender-specific rites of passage, such as the filing of teeth mokesa among the Eastern Toraja, or as a war amulet. This fact is particularly significant in view of their vaginal form, as the “procurement of life” is the warrior's task. The travesty shamans Sigi Kaili, a well-known phenomenon in the Toraja and Bugis region - and not only there - wore these amulets on public occasions to ward off disaster and cyclical agricultural protection spells. In the context of the “high religions” and their linear view of cosmological processes, this significance was somewhat lost, even though travesty shamans are still of particular importance throughout Southeast Asia today due to their dual significance for both spheres and the duality of all areas of life.
