Exceptional Balinese Offering Box (Sajen) in the form of a Singa

This magnificent ritual storage or offering box (sajen) is in the form of a lion (singa) seated on its haunches. It is well carved, with strong features. A sliding cover on the back pulls out to reveal a hollowed storage cavity inside. The lion’s face with its bulging eyes and gaping mouth with sharp teeth and protruding tongue is particularly dynamic and expressive. The top of the mane has been carved as spiky protrusions and that part beneath the chin has been carved as tight curls. The sides of the lion and the sliding cover have been carved in relief with the most beautiful scrolling vine and flower motifs.

It is among the best sajen boxes we have seen.

A dating some time in the nineteenth century, and possibly earlier, is suggested by the patina and style.

Such items were used as storage boxes for religious palm leaf manuscripts (lontar) and also to present temple offerings. Offerings were kept in the covered cavity in the lion’s back.

Such offering boxes usually were stored within wooden structures in larger temples and taken out during ceremonies. They were brought out from the temple for ritual processions when they and other ritual objects were carried to the sea or river for ‘cleansing’, a process known as melaspas.

The box retains its original colouring, pigments and remnants of applied gold leaf.

Lions are not indigenous to Indonesia but knowledge of lions probably came from India. This explains the somewhat abstract, stylised account of a lion here.

The box is in excellent condition. There are minor age-related losses to the length of some of the teeth.  Overall, this is a superb, museum-quality, early example of Balinese religious art.