23 Masterworks from Museum Nasional Indonesia

Painted Mythological Figure | Aso © Museum Nasional Indonesia — Painted Mythological Figure | *Aso*
© Museum Nasional Indonesia

23 Masterworks from
Museum Nasional Indonesia

Curated by Steven G. Alpert

This August, we are especially pleased and honored to celebrate the Museum Nasional Indonesia. This is an especially auspicious month as it marks the Republic of Indonesia's 75th birthday. (August 17th). It is also personal, as I first went to Indonesia precisely fifty years ago, and have been ever grateful for the experiences garnered there so many decades ago. One of the first places I ever visited in old Jakarta was the National Museum, popularly known as the Gedung Gajah, the 'Elephant Building' where one was and still is greeted in the building's forecourt by a large bronze elephant, the gift of King Chulalongkorn and the people of Siam in 1871.

The roots of the present museum go all the way back to 1778 to the colonial era creation of the Royal Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences (Bataviaasch Genootschnap van Kunsten Weteschappen). Today, the museum has one of Asia's largest and finest art collections drawn primarily from Indonesia's vast complex of 17,000 islands and the diverse peoples who inhabit them. The museum is an essential destination that spans Indonesia's prehistory, the Bronze Age on through the archipelago's great Buddhist and Hindu and Islamic empires, and so much more. For this issue, in harmony with the artworks in our galleries, we are featuring a small selection of artifacts that illustrate the caliber of the art deriving from local traditions at Museum Nasional Indonesia ranging across the archipelago from Sumatra to New Guinea.

In future issues, we look forward to showing other historical horizons curated at Museum Nasional Indonesia, including golden treasures and features on the museum's extensive colonial and trade porcelain collections. Whether visited virtually or in-person, the treasure hoard held within the walls of the fabled Elephant House is a fundamental cornerstone for the study and appreciation of island Southeast Asian art.

— Steven G. Alpert & Art of the Ancestors Editorial Team

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