SEA Art Hist

Purposes of Southeast Asian art

Worship ancestors, deities, or supernatural beings

To glorify the King- the devaraja cult

To teach and record religion and history

To assert status, rank, or political power through possessions

Devaraja cult

Khmer Cambodia and Java

the living king transmitted divine will through his relationship with a particular god

Indianization

The entering of South Asians, bringing their beliefs of royalty, religion, and trade

Vishnu

Preserver and protector of the universe

Brahma

Creator of the universe

Shiva

Destroyer of the universe

Hari-Hara

Deity combining Shiva and Vishnu

Vishnu on left (Hari)

Shiva on right (Hara)

Alus

Refined, smooth, finely worked, subtly allusive

Kasar

Rough, crude, or vulgar

Priyayi

Standard to judge artistic expression in Java

Niskala

The unseen non-material world

Inhabited by gods, demons, spirits, and monsters

Gong

Reverberations summon the spirits of ancestors, penetrating into the unseen world

Symbol of prestige and wealth

Dong Son culture

Today’s northern Vietnam

600 BC - 200 AD

Made bronze and iron objects (gongs)

Indigenous beliefs

Art objects may be invested with power

Entities can enter them

Rituals

Ceremonial, stylized, repetitive acts that take place at a set location

Involved symbolic objects, words, and actions

Masks

Used in performances in central Java

A way for spirits to enter people and use them as a tool for expression

Person and thing united

Batik

Traditional wax-resist dying technique

Solo, Indonesia

Keris

Indonesian and Malay daggers

often wavy blade with pamor (a pattern created from blending light and dark metals)

One of the five essential possessions of a man

Can bring good or bad luck, depending on what spirit it holds

Caring for Keris

Cleaned with traditional ointment, giving signature scent

Tapping blade and listening to the sound

Magical formulas uttered to Keris

Pangrasa

Sensitivity of the heart, inner sharpness, sixth sense

Cannot be learned

Contact between keris and person— facilitated by fragrance

Wayang

Traditional form of puppet theatre play originating in Java

Contains hidden truths about human life

Figures of a hornbill, kenyelang

Iban, Sarawak (Northwest Borneo, Malaysia)

Messenger of the god of war

Hornbill effigies are the centerpiece of the Gawai Kenyalang

Pua Kumbu

Iban, Sarawak

A traditional patterned multi-colored ceremonial cotton clothing

Worn during Gawai and Dayak

Southeast Asian conception of the universe

Tripartite cosmological belief system of the universe

Tripartite conception

The world is resting on the back of a vast creature (turtle or serpent)

Below the earth, in depth of sea, are where malevolent spirits reside

Above the world, the heavens are inhabited by spirits

Kenyah ritual (wooden) post, belawing, with hornbill and dragon

Southern Borneo, Indonesia

Hornbill symbolizes male upper world

Dragon represents female lower world

Union of male and female as image of tree

Tau-tau

Ritual representation of the deceased

Forked peo post

Links: living and ancestors, male and female, individual and community, human and supernatural

Symbols of sun, moon, double-axe, and female

Tombstone of the Raja of Anakalang

Funeral monument

Female and male figures

Geometric designs

Iconographic references to lineage, wealth, and ritual precedence of the deceased

Ritual mask

Means of penetrating the spirit

Repels malevolent forces- used for exorcisms

Shiva as Lord of the Dance

Nataraja, India

Visualizes the cycles of creation

Linga

Phallic manifestation of Shiva

Krishna Govardhana

Vat Koh, Prei Kraba, Ta Keo, Cambodia

Hindu legend of god lifting Mount Govardhana to protect shepherds from torrential rian

Standing Hari-Hara

Pre-Angkor Cambodia

Union of Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (HAra)

Garuda

Eagle-like transporter of Vishnu

Mount Meru

Sacred five-peaked mountain

Center of the universe

Home of spirits

Carving of Shiva Nataraja, the Dancing Shiva

The dancing Shiva symbolizes both the creation and destruction of the universe

Dancer from a pedestal from Tra Kieu, Champa

High relief sculpture

Proportionally large limbs

Anatomically impossible pose

Dewi Sri

Rice goddess

Symbolizes fertility

a base for offering

wedding ritual placed in front of bed

Stone sculpture of Ganesha

Central Java

God of new beginnings

Elephant head

Funan Kingdom

Southern Cambodia and Vietnam

4th-6th c

Javanese Kingdom

Java, Indonesia

Khmer Empire

Cambodia

9th-13th c

Expanded into Thailand, Northern Vietnam, and Malaya

Capital moved to Angkor

Late Kingdom

Decline of Khmer Empire

13th-16th c

Colonization and Independence

Muslim traders and European seafarers

Indonesia became Muslim (except for Bali)

Dutch, Portuguese, British, and French 16th - 19th c

Tantrism

East Java

Use of hand gestures, magic, and the worship of shaktis

Shivalinga Mudra

Cultivates a deep reservoir of energy within, warms the body, and increases the flow of healing energy

Vishnu. Prasat Kroh Bei (Damrei) Krap. N. Sanctuary, Phnom Kulen, Cambodia

Vishnu holding his most important attributes

Attributes of Vishnu

Conch: primordial sound of creation

Club: Vishnu’s divine power

Lotus: purity and perfection

Wheel: sun and universe

Durga Mahishasuramardini, Sambor Prei Kuk, sanctuary N 9, Kompong Thom,

Khmer feminine ideal & conquers the buffalo demon

Devi

Reinforces the impression of a specific identity

Older woman of experience and authority

Suryavarman II

The god of the sun

Built Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Five towers- mount Meru

Temple city

Walls covered in bas-reliefs of Hindu gods

Apsaras

Female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hindu and Buddhist culture

Indra

Hindu deity and king of heaven and gods

Lightening, storms, rain, river flow, and war

21

Vernal and autumn equinox

Twice a year, the rising sun aligns perfectly with the tip of the central tower

Earth

108

Basis of creation

Approximate relationships of the sun, earth, and moon

Chakravarti

Wheel-turning sacred king

Chakravala chakravarti

A king who rules over all four of the continents

Dvipa chakravarti

A ruler who governs only onw of those continents

Pradesha chakravarti

A monarch who leads the people of only one part of a continent

Bayon

Angkor temple built as a monument to Buddhism by Jayavarman VII