Javanese Madurese Ceremonial Rice Basket

Rare Rattan & Wood Ceremonial Rice Basket

East Java or Madura, Indonesia

18th-19th century

height: 23cm, diameter: 27cm

This item was used at important feasts in East Java and the nearby island of Madura to hold and from which cooked rice was served. It is the finest such example of which we are aware. The carving is unusually fine – finer than, for example, a related example in the Tropenmuseum collection in Amsterdam and illustrated in Meulenbeld et al, 1988, p. 135), and another, later example in the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Australia, and illustrated in Bennett (2005, p. 66).

It comprises a finely woven rattan basket on an intricately carved wooden stand which comprises four legs. The base and basket are decorated in black and red polychrome; the base retains traces of gilding. A metal loop is affixed to the base. Possibly this was to allow the item to be suspended upside down when not in use. Buffalo horn straps run up the sides of the interior of the basket for added strength.

The legs are profusely carved with dense, foliate scrolls, and also unusual twisted string-like motifs which appear to suggest that the legs are tied on to the rest of the structure (which they are not).

The colour scheme and the carving suggest Chinese influence but also can be linked to the carved wooden work produced in Tonkin, Vietnam for the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) and also perhaps relates to work undertaken in Southeast Asia that accorded with 17th and 18th century Indo-Portuguese tastes.

The item has fantastic patina and clear age. A 19th century dating is indisputable. An 18th century dating a certainly a possibility. The item is robust and stable. There are (very) old losses to some of the extremities of the carving, and some old shrinkage-related cracking. There are losses to the horn struts inside the basket and the rattan base of the basket has some old holes. But overall, this is a very fine and rare example, of which few have survived.

References

Bennett, J., et al., Crescent Moon: Islamic Art & Civilisation in Southeast Asia, Art Gallery of South Australia, 2005.

Meulenbeld, B.C., et al, Budaya Indonesia: Arts and Crafts in Indonesia, Tropenmuseum, 1988.

Provenance:

Private collection, England.

Inventory no.: 3157

SOLD

Here the wood has been carved to suggest string or rope as the means by which the item is being held together.