Details

LOT 0391

Elaborate Javanese Gold Zoomorphic Ear Ornaments

INDONESIA, 1293-1530 A.D.

2 1/4 in. (73.18 grams total, 56 mm each).

A magnificent matched pair of highly domed ear ornaments, each displaying the front-facing head of Garuda, the eagle-headed Vahana or celestial mount of Vishnu; hollow-formed and exquisitely worked in repoussé, the crowned and nimbate figure emerging from a dense field of intricate floral motifs, the reverse adorned with a repoussé monkey design; presented in a custom-made lined case. [2]

Provenance

Acquired in the 1920s by a Dutch civil servant; taken to the Netherlands in 1939.
Collection of Frans H.A. Claessen.
Thence by descent; retained by the family until sold by the grandson, now resident in the United States, to a private collector in Hong Kong.
Private collection, London.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12799-241418.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Published

Polak, J., Ancient Indonesian Gold of the Central and Eastern Javanese Periods, 750-1550, Leiden, 2022, pp.446-447, pl. 63, for a 1930s photograph showing the earrings while they were still part of the Claessen Collection in Holland.

Literature

Cf. Richter, A. & Carpenter, B., Gold Jewellery of the Indonesian Archipelago, Singapore, 2011, p. 70, for a single ear cuff of similar form, dated there to the 8th–12th century, although the same object is dated more narrowly to the 8th–9th century in the text on p. 43; Polak, J., Ancient Indonesian Gold of the Central and Eastern Javanese Periods, 750–1550, Leiden, 2022, pp. 444–446, no. 114, for a closely related pair dated to the 14th to early 16th century A.D.

Footnotes

Garuda, whose epithet Suvarnakaya means 'Golden Bodied', is traditionally depicted with a human form and avian head, his bulging eyes symbolising vigilance and wisdom. Here, his sharp beak, ornate crown, and discoid earrings are rendered in superb detail, framed by a polished nimbus denoting his semi-divine status. Delicately chased feather and vegetal designs at the base suggest the sweep of his wings.

F.H.A. Claessen emigrated from the Netherlands to Indonesia in 1919 as a young officer and was initially based in Malang, East Java. In the early 1920s, he relocated to Batavia (now Jakarta), where he held a Civil Service position as Inspector-General of Physical Education for the entire Indonesian school system. During this period, he travelled extensively throughout the Indonesian archipelago, occasionally collecting objects during his journeys. In the late 1939, Claessen returned to the Netherlands on leave but was subsequently stranded in Amsterdam under German occupation. He was later arrested by the Gestapo and died in March 1945 while held at the notorious Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.