The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

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JAVA 465
The decorative arts of Java, which comprised
many exotic native crafts, may be typified by
the Wayang images, the batik, and the supreme
creation of the armourer, the kris. 8 The history
of the Wayang show and its puppets goes back
to at least the year 1000. The performers are
flat leather puppets, which are made to cast
their shadows on a canvas screen to the sound
of music and the narration of the puppet master
[399]. The subjects of this theatre are the epic
Indian dramas. The performances always satisfied
a mystical need in the audience which identified
the shadow-actors as real apparitions from
the invisible world. The individual figures are
enormously stylized symbols of divine and
demoniacal forms and appear to be a further
abstraction of the relief style of Panataram
[398].
Of all the infinite varieties of Indonesian
decorative arts batik has the character of a
national craft [400]. The basic technique consists
of covering the parts of the design to be
reserved with beeswax, before plunging the
cloth into the dye vat. The designs include
both swastikas and varieties of chequered and
patchwork-quilt patterns [400]. The technique
developed from early one-colour batiks to
barbarically splendid multi-colour patterns.
The Javanese national weapon is the kris
[40 1 ]. This dagger, the armourer's final triumph,
was made for both practical and ceremonial
use. In the forging of the blade the craftsmen
performed a ritual ceremony, perpetuating the
ancient tradition of the gods' gift of weapons to
man. The blades, formed of meteoric ore, are
either straight or wavy and invariably include
stylized representations of the Naga. The hilt,
separately fashioned of wood or ivory, is always
a simplification of a demoniacal human form
designed to ward off evil spirits. The kris was
399. Wayang puppet from Java.
London, Victoria and Albert Museum
400. Batik from Java.
London, Victoria and Albert Museum