18 Batak Masterworks in Yale University Art Gallery

 

Pig with Magical Markings
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 
 

18 Batak Masterworks in
Yale University Art Gallery

 

Curated by Steven G. Alpert

 
 

Yale University Art Gallery's collection of Indo-Pacific Art is an elite destination where the traditional arts and material cultures of the Malay Indonesian archipelago are well-curated and beautifully displayed. Yale's digital collections database is also exemplary, as is the museum's dedication to 'open access' sharing. Yale's magnificent Indonesian art collection is too large, too diverse, and too important to present in a single overview or offering. 

Looking back at the early and formative years of the Indo-Pacific collection, superb Batak material was always synonymous with the collection's inception and overall commitment to quality.  The rich corpus of Batak entries has grandly expanded since the 1990s. It is only fitting that our first concentrated view of what is arguably America's most expansive and essential collection of island Southeast Asian art begins with a focus on a great collector's manifest passion for Batak art.

The Batak reflect a broad and creative cultural group that today numbers some eight million souls (2020). Batak material culture was already well known and being collected by European ethnographers and missionaries during the colonial period. In the early 1970s, a significant amount of old Batak art found its way into the art trade, mostly being exported to Europe. There, gallerists and aficionados proceeded to expose and popularize this material. Many of the premier examples came out of Indonesia in the 1970s, and like the best pieces collected in the 19th and early 20th century also exhibited good age and fine forms. Often, their rich surfaces and deep patination attracted a Western audience accustomed to admiring the polish and richness of the wooden surfaces found in the realm of African 'tribal' art. It was during this decade that many of the core holdings of the Indo-Pacific collection were acquired, at a time when exemplary material was still available, and what would, over time, become seminal collections were actively being developed.

Steven G. Alpert, founder of Art of the Ancestors

 
 
 

1

 
 

Puppet | Si Gale Gale

 
 

Puppet | Si Gale Gale
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

Toba peoples

18th – 19th century

Wood with string

ILE2012.30.223

 
 
 

2

 
 

Puppet | Si Gale Gale

 
 

Puppet | Si Gale Gale
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

Toba peoples

18th – 19th century

Wood with string

ILE2012.30.224

 
 

3

 
 

Mask | Topeng

 

Mask | Topeng
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

Wood, brass and hair; carved

ILE2012.30.526

 
 
 

4

 
 

Priest’s Staff | Tunggal Panaluan

 

Priest’s Staff | Tunggal Panaluan
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

Priest’s Staff | Tunggal Panaluan
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

Toba peoples

19th century

Wood with iron, cotton thread, rattan webbing, hide, hair, brass, and silver

ILE2012.30.145

 
 
 

5

 
 

Priest’s Staff | Tunggal Panaluan

 
 

Priest’s Staff | Tunggal Panaluan
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 

Priest’s Staff | Tunggal Panaluan
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

Toba peoples

19th century

Wood with iron, cotton thread, rattan webbing, hide, hair, brass, and silver

ILE2012.30.146

 
 
 

6

 
 

Datu’s Staff Finial

 
 

Bottle Stopper
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

Mid-18th to mid-19th century

Metal

ILE2019.12.441

 
 
 

7

 
 

Magic Horn | Buli Buli

 

Magic Horn | Buli Buli
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

Karo peoples

19th century

Mountain antelope horn and metal

ILE2012.30.235

 
 
 

8

 
 

Bullet Holder | Paru-Paru / Baba Ni Onggang

 
 

Bullet Holder | Paru-Paru / Baba Ni Onggang
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

19th century

Wood, buffalo horn and lead (left);
and buffalo horn (right)

ILE2012.30.531

 
 

9

 
 

Datu’s Container | Perminaken

 
 

Container | Perminaken
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

Toba peoples

19th century

Bamboo, buffalo horn and metal

ILE2014.8.76

 
 
 

10

 
 

Jar Stopper | Guri Guri

 
 

Jar Stopper | Guri Guri
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

Toba peoples

18th century

Wood

ILE2012.30.239

 
 
 

11

 
 

Female Figure | Pagar

 
 

Female Figure | Pagar
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

Wood, metal, tin and cord

ILE2012.30.849

 
 

12

 
 

Jar Lid | Perminaken

 

Jar Lid | Perminaken
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

Wood, hair, resin and metal studs

ILE2012.30.233

 
 

13

 
 

Heirloom Chest | Hombung

 

Heirloom Chest | Hombung
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

19th century

Wood

ILE2014.8.76

 
 
 

14

 
 

Jar Lid

 

Lid
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 
 

19th century

Wood

ILE2019.12.442

 
 

15

 
 

Priest’s Box

 

Priest’s Box
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 

18th – 19th century

Wood, bamboo, and metal

ILE2012.30.237

 
 
 

16

 
 

Lute | Hasapi

 

Lute | Hasapi
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

Toba peoples

19th century

Wood

ILE2012.30.246

 
 
 

17

 
 

Bag

 

Bag
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

Weft twining; cotton

ILE2006.4.169

 
 
 

18

 
 

Pig with Magical Marks

 

Pig with Calendar Marks
© Yale University Art Gallery | Connecticut, USA

 
 

19th century

Wood with nails

ILE2012.30.881

 
 
 
 

All artworks and images presented in this feature are the property of Yale University Art Gallery.
© Yale University Art Gallery