9 Moluccan Treasures in Yale University Art Gallery
9 Moluccan Treasures
in Yale University Art Gallery
Curated by Steven G. Alpert
After the glorious Moluccan material collectively held in the Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen and the iconic pieces in the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Cologne, one of the most important assemblages of fine antique Moluccan art has been carefully collected by Thomas Jaffe and is stewarded in the Indo-Pacific Collection of the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut. Online, the collection boasts illustrations of forty-eight items that include major pieces of sculpture, small votive figures, shields, swords, textiles, and ceremonial gold jewelry.
Old Moluccan artwork has long been largely unavailable in the islands of origin. Most museum pieces date back to times of collection between the second half of the 19th century and the eve of World War I. Exceptions to this statement are the many pieces collected in situ, first by a mission carpenter, Herman de Vries, and later by Jean Pierret, Anita Chaberman, and the incomparable Dr. Bernard Tursch. Ben was a famous marine biologist who, among his many accomplishments, chronicled the taxonomy of olive shells. He sailed widely in the region and collected art of great distinction in the early 1970s. The Tursch-Chaberman collection of Moluccan material was divided, with half of it being given to the regional museum in Ambon, known as MuMa (Museum Negeri Provinsi Maluku Siwa Lima) in Ambon. Other ex-Tursch items of distinction in the United States are to be found in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Dallas Museum of Art, in addition to the superb pieces now in Yale's Indo-Pacific Collection.
Yale's Porka festival torso is the finest example of its type extant. It is sublime, powerfully flame-like, feline, and the epitome of Moluccan beauty. One can posit that Moluccan statuary, when it is aesthetically special, is invariably well executed and aethereal in both its posture and guise. Two of the collection's most extraordinary 'aesthetic' pieces, both deaccessioned from the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum and later represented by Emile Delataille, are the Leti post ending in a superb torso (#3) and a classic ancestor figure also from the island of Leti. A nicely carved and somewhat abstract ex-Tursch, Babar figure, and a pole statue representing a heavenly deity from a raised stone and earthen platform from the ritual center of a village on Damar or Sermata round out this introduction to wooden effigies.
In the realm of items of everyday or ceremonial usage, a finely inlaid shield (salawaku) from Ceram and an outstanding decorated hat from Halmahera crafted from pandanus leaf, bamboo and mica are perfectly balanced old items dating back to the colonial period. A Kisar island hunkered wooden figure on the end of a tool for measuring house and boat building dimensions, the golden means of the ancestors, is also a very fine example. Among the collection's jewelry, a small but very poignant gold pendant mask is as good as these get.
We are pleased to be able to present these items from the Moluccas to our readers, encourage them to experience Yale's Indo-Pacific collection personally, and, if so inspired, to travel to these unforgettable islands.
— Steven G. Alpert, founder of Art of the Ancestors
1
Ancestor Head
Leti
19th century
Wood
ILE2012.30.133
2
Ancestor Figure
Leti
19th century
Wood with shell
ILE2012.30.371
3
Ancestor Post
Leti
19th century
Wood with shell
ILE2012.30.372
4
Ancestor Altar
Leti
19th century
Wood with shell
ILE2012.30.578
5
Male Ancestor Figure
Babar
Wood
ILE2012.30.579
6
Hat
Halmahera
19th century
Pandanus leaves with bamboo and mica
ILE2012.30.196
7
Measuring Stick
Leti
19th century
Wood
ILE2012.30.373
8
Gold Necklace
Tanimbar
18th – 19th century
Hammered gold
ILE2012.30.750
9
Shield | Salawaku
Probably Alfur
19th century
Wood, shell, bamboo, rattan; inlay
2011.224.1
All artworks and images presented in this feature are the property of Yale University Art Gallery.
© Yale University Art Gallery