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Dear Mr. Lee,
I got this sculpture from my relative who found it during digging a bunker tank for a petrol station project.
I would like to know your review for this sculpture.
Height 10 cm. Location Jember District East Java Indonesia

Dear Eko,

this bronze figure is without doubt an image of a javanese wayang-theatre character. As it has a very funny and caricative head, I suppose it represents a so called �panakawan� � a servant of the nobility who acts as a jester.(As an Inonesian you surely know them). The three famous panakawan are Semar and his sons Petruk and Nalagareng. Semar is in many stories the adviser of the hero and has lot of magic power. He is even able to personify a god. My personal opinion is, that your sculpture is a Semar, maybe made to be a talisman.
For the following reason it is very difficult to determine the age of your bronze without a technical-scientific analyses:
At the end of the 13th century there already appeared very naturalistic wayang-figures on east-javanese temple-reliefs. Until nowadays they�ve stylistically developped to those �alien-like� forms we all know, which has possibly to do with the islamic prohibition of antropomorph representations. But the point is, that just the �panakawan� haven�t made any stylistic development since then. They still look like 700 years ago! So, stylistically it could be 14th or even 19th century, but with regard to the nice age-patina and the provenance I think it�s really old. Very interesting piece!

Daniel

Pak Eko,

salam kenal dari Surabaya.

Majapahit mempunyai style patung agak funny.

Gareng I am sure.

Pak Tonny,
mungkin benar itu dari Majapahit. Tapi, saya rasa itu Semar karena tiga sebab:
1)lengan-lengan dan kaki-kaki Gareng hampir selalu cacat.
2)Semar bukan orang laki-laki dan juga bukan perempuan - dia kedua-duanya. Kalau lihat patung punya Eko juga tidak jelas jenis apa ini.
3)Waktu zaman Majapahit perunggu (bronze) agak mahal dan kebanyakan dipakai dalam rangka beragama. Semar sendiri adalah inkarnasi Bathara Ismaya dan juga disembah di dekat dewa-dewa Hindu/Buddha.

Tetapi, juga mungkin kamu benar itu Gareng. Saya juga tidak yakin 100%.
Mungkin lebih baik di masa depan kita posting dalam bahasa Inggeris lagi, supaya pengunjung forum lain juga bisa mengikuti diskusi, kan.
Salam dari Jerman.

Thanks,

Pak Daniel. best regards from Surabaya.

Salam dari California, wah wong wong Jowo podo ngumpol ning kene. Aku dulu juga tinggal di Jerman selama 10 tahun.

2)Semar bukan orang laki-laki dan juga bukan perempuan - dia kedua-duanya. Wah wandu itu :).

Interesting, what make you think it is Gareng or Semar? Is it possible to get his front view?

Hello,
yes it will be semar. Patina suggests an older age, BUT age determination in Indonesia is hard. All I see is a nice statue. I would like to determin origin and age.(becausew I am interested, I am not researching every statue I encounter. Maybe you can think about selling, consult evereyone you know for pricing. Let's see if we'll find an agreement. If we do: inmagine after all happenings and even stress: i can promisse you to get an honest rapportage about the statue., If the price I payed is too low, I'll make up (financiely). If it doesn;t fit my payed bill...I learned.

Gareng.

quite interesting

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