An impressive, standing metal figure of a Balinese prince.
He wears a broad, spreading lotus crown above his beautiful, solemn and calm face. With ears that project sideways and not entirely perforated earlobes. Two round eyelets are attached to the flat rear side of the head (cast together), in order to stabilise the sculpture while standing.
The short, twice-ringed neck sits upon a broad-shouldered body. With fine and precisely executed ornaments on the chest, on both upper arms, in front of the hands and on both feet. A bhramin thread (upavita) runs from the left shoulder over the chest to the right arm, which signifies the high status of the man along with his crown, clothing and jewellery.
The arms are bent, the left hand lies under the right, which holds an upright lotus bud.
The figure’s skirt has two ‘tails’ projecting to the left and right, and a broad textile sash, hanging decoratively low in front. Both legs stand robust and strong on flat, well-executed feet.
The entire figure is thin-walled cast in a single piece using a ‘waste mould’ (lost-wax casting) and displays only three minor casting defects (small holes) on its right side. Furthermore, the figure displays in its entirety a very beautiful, partly shiny, black to dark brown patina (with minimal scuffing on exposed parts).
Mag. Florian Rainer, head of the conservation department of the Weltmuseum Wien, examined this black, partly shiny patina. This is his report:
‘The patina of this piece is a dark oxide patina, which is created either after casting or by greatly heating such an object. No carbonate or sulphide layer is discernible. This patina is authentic and not created synthetically’.
On the subject of the later massive heating of the figure that was brought up by Mag. Florian Rainer, the following should be added: First of all, fire burial has been practised on Bali since time immemorial; secondly, Bali has had volcanic eruptions (the last one in 1963) and thirdly, it is possible that the temple in which this figure might have been stored as a ‘sacred object’ burned down at some point. The treasure chambers of some of the great temples of Bali supposedly still house such figures as ‘sacred objects’, and ritually sacrifice them during ceremonies. Otherwise, only very few comparable pieces are known in museums worldwide: the Bali museum in Denpasar, inventory no. 3577; the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden (the Netherlands), inv. no. 1403-2752; the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, United States; the National Gallery in Australia and a few private collections.
In other words: a true rarity!
Late 19th to first half of the 20th century; H: 21 cm.

Provenance: Privately purchased by a German collector in the late 1960s in the region of the Mount Agung volcano on Bali from a Balinese local. Currently: German Private Collection. (ME)

Lit.: ‘Kultur und Volkskunst in Bali’, by Urs Ramseyer, ill. 55 (picture on page 180 of this catalogue). Urs Ramseyer, one of the pre-eminent experts on Balinese culture, wrote the following in his book ‘Kultur und Volkskunst in Bali’ about this figure in the Bali museum in Denpasar, Bali: ‘Bronze burial figure (circa 13th to 14th Century CE): Besides royal portraits made from volcanic tuff, a small number of princely ancestor- or burial figures made from bronze or wood were found. Our illustration depicts a male figure with a lotus crown, cast using the lost-wax technique. It holds an undefinable ritual object in its right hand, which is supported by the left. The earlobes are perforated. Neck-, under- and upper arm ornaments, hip cloth and ‘upavita’ (brahmin thread) are clearly discernible. A comparable piece can be found at the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden’.

additional pictures:
Comparable item from the Bali Museum in Denpasar, on the island of Bali.
Photo from ‘Kultur und Volkskunst in Bali’ by Urs Ramseyer

Comparable item from the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde in Leiden, Holland
Photo: Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden.