Archives for the day of: 04/19/2012

W150xD100xH200mm, China

The Chinese cabbage (Brassica Pekinensis) is a basic vegetable consumed by the whole of China, it is not surprising that it will be come a subject for folkart.  This pottery cabbage is a wall hanging vase.  Chinese cabbage has been documented in Chinese history since the San Guo period (220AD), it became a popular vegetable together with the turnip by 600AD.

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W150xH170mm, Indonesia

This is Penthul, friend of  Tembem.  They are masks for the Jathilan folk dance, a Javanese hobby horse trance dance for exorcising evil spirits showing a battle between good and evil.   Jathilan dance is performed to celebrate harvest, weddings; originally it was a rite of passage to adulthood, the child whole mimic riding a horse and crossing over to become an adult.

Penthul and Tembem appears in the first act of the dance, they are the princes from the Kediri Kingdom who were faced by the forest spirits who attacked theirs soldier sending them into a trance.

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