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Have a question? Contact Museum of Indonesian Arts Inc.
This implement was used to inscribe text or etch picture onto lontar leaves.
Metal blade with wooden handle and sheaf with ratten tie. For better description on pemeje or pengerupak in Balinese - see link below
The text is in Javanese/Balinese script. The language might be literary Javanese or high Sasak in verse form (tembang macapat) containing romantic stories about princes and princesses.
Lontar leaves used as writing materials, etched with sharp knife called pemeje
Cotton Lace, embroidered with pearls, gold and silver beads and leaf like flat iridescent decorations
When the Balinese King of West Lombok was defeated by the Dutch in November 1894, after nearly two and a half centuries of Balinese rule, a collection of beautifully illustrated lontar leaves was found, among other documents, in the palace library at Cakranegara, capital of the Balinese Kingdom in Lombok. This collection was published in a book called ‘Dampati Lalangon’ meaning “The delight of the spouses”. It is a rare example of a lontar, containing illustrations but no text. It is an allegorical story about a royal couple, the queen representing the godess of wisdom, Saraswati. The illustrations are of a mystical and erotic nature
Paperback brown covered book containing eleven plates. Each plate covers 2 pages across and depicts 6 pages of illustrated lontar leaves. Lontar is a type of palm-leaf manuscript from Indonesia. The contents of this book show a rare example of a lontar, containing etched illustrations but no text. The title and preface of this book are in Dutch language.
Front cover and title page have the insciptions: Koninklijk Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen -Dampati Lalangon - 11 platen naar Balische lontar-illustraties. Tweede uitgave van het "Darmo Lelangon" (1912) There is a circular stamp with the words "Batavia's Genootschap" above a stylized tree and rural scene below which are the words "opgerrgt 24 priz 1778"
Victorian Collections acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.
