Enquiry about object: 7150
Rare Dayak Ironwood Ear Plugs
Dayak People, Borneo, East Kalimantan, Indonesia 19th-early 20th century
diameter: approximately 5.2cm, depth: 2.6cm, combined weight: 165g
Provenance
private collection, Germany.
This rare pair of ear plugs or spools is carved from polished ironwood. Ironwood is very dense and each of these plugs is astonishingly heavy in the hand. Each has a slight ‘hourglass’ form.
This type of earplug comes from the Benuaq Dayak of the West Kutai/Mahakam basin area in East Kalimantan province in the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo.
The face of each is carved with triangle motifs arranged in concentric circles around a central well set with a foil-backed glass roundel, and coloured with powdered white chalk.
Such a pair would have been worn by a Dayak women with dramatically pierced, elongated earlobes.
Traditionally, most Dayak groups regarded elongated, open ear lobes as a sign of beauty and adulthood.
A near identical pair is illustrated in Dietrich & Pavaloi (2013, p. 163). Related, less elaborate examples are illustrated in Carpenter (2011, p. 157).
The examples here are among the best we have seen.
References
Carpenter, B., Ethnic Jewellery from Indonesia: Continuity and Evolution, Editions Didier Millet, 2011.
Dietrich, S & M. Pavaloi, Flussaufwarts: Die Borneo-Sammlung Hilde May, Volkerkundemuseum, 2013.
Longenecker, M. (ed.), Elemental Art of the Indonesian Archipelago: Selections from the Collection of Mingei International Museum, Mingei International, 2005.
