Borneo - Dayak Beaded Baby Carrier Panel - #181

$4,800.00

Description:

A rare and beautiful panel featuring a pair of stylized anthropomorphic figures that appear to have crowns on their heads, flanking a small hooked rhomb motif that might evoke a new life form. The three large motifs are embedded in a dense field of colorful hooks, which are ancient motifs in Indonesia. As masters of figure-ground relations, the Dayak sometimes merge foreground and backgrond as if all motifs are equally alive and intertwined with one another.
This panel was reproduced in Irwin Hersey’s 1991 book Indonesian Primitive Art, where it was shown upside down. A similar beaded baby carrier panel attributed to the Basap people of North or East Kalimantan appears on page 52 of Heidi Munan’s 2005 book The Beads of Borneo, published by Editions Didier Millet of Kuala Lumpur.
Composed largely of European glass beads, this panel may also contain Indo-Pacific glass beads. The threads are made of a vegetal fiber that a Dayak woman painstakingly created by hand.
Additional Photos Available Upon Request.

Condition:

Excellent overall, with no damage to the beaded fabric. However, 8-12 of the Venetian red-on-white beads known as “white hearts” or “cornaline d’Aleppo” show signs of the chemical decomposition known as “glass disease,” which is common on pieces of this age. Please see detail photos 3 and 4 for examples.

Dimensions:

Previously Published:

Irwin Hersey, Indonesian Primite Art. Oxford Univeristy Press, Singapore, 1991.

Comparable Example:

Heidi Munan, The Beads of Borneo. Editions Didier Millet, Kuala Lumpur, 2005. See page 52.

Add To Cart

Description:

A rare and beautiful panel featuring a pair of stylized anthropomorphic figures that appear to have crowns on their heads, flanking a small hooked rhomb motif that might evoke a new life form. The three large motifs are embedded in a dense field of colorful hooks, which are ancient motifs in Indonesia. As masters of figure-ground relations, the Dayak sometimes merge foreground and backgrond as if all motifs are equally alive and intertwined with one another.
This panel was reproduced in Irwin Hersey’s 1991 book Indonesian Primitive Art, where it was shown upside down. A similar beaded baby carrier panel attributed to the Basap people of North or East Kalimantan appears on page 52 of Heidi Munan’s 2005 book The Beads of Borneo, published by Editions Didier Millet of Kuala Lumpur.
Composed largely of European glass beads, this panel may also contain Indo-Pacific glass beads. The threads are made of a vegetal fiber that a Dayak woman painstakingly created by hand.
Additional Photos Available Upon Request.

Condition:

Excellent overall, with no damage to the beaded fabric. However, 8-12 of the Venetian red-on-white beads known as “white hearts” or “cornaline d’Aleppo” show signs of the chemical decomposition known as “glass disease,” which is common on pieces of this age. Please see detail photos 3 and 4 for examples.

Dimensions:

Previously Published:

Irwin Hersey, Indonesian Primite Art. Oxford Univeristy Press, Singapore, 1991.

Comparable Example:

Heidi Munan, The Beads of Borneo. Editions Didier Millet, Kuala Lumpur, 2005. See page 52.