SUMATRA, INDONESIA, 19TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF SILVER BATAK PADUNG-PADUNG EAR ORNAMENTS
SUMATRA, INDONESIA, 19TH CENTURY
On later display stands
9 ¼ in. (23.5 cm.) high; 9 ½ in. (24.5 cm.) wide

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Benedict Winter

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Lot Essay

Constructed from melted silver coins, these ear ornaments are exceptional in both their size and the way in which they are worn, in opposite directions. The padung padung are just one part of a complex set of jewellery worn for the marriage ceremony and one theory for the way it is worn is that it symbolises the ups and downs of marital life.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
S. Rodgers, Power and Gold: Jewellery from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, 1988.
A. Sibeth, The Batak: Peoples of the Islands of Sumatra, 1991, p. 186, fig. 253.
A. van Custem, A World of Earrings Africa, Asia, America (The Ghysels Collection), Milan, 2001.

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