Indonesia. Rama is the main protagonist or hero of the Ramayana tale. Portrayed as the seventh avatar of god Vishnu and as the epitome of virtue, he is the eldest and favourite son of Dasharatha, the king of Kosala with capital Ayodhya and his chief queen Kausalya. Dasharatha is forced by Kaikeyi, the third of his three favourite wives, to command Rama to relinquish his right to the throne and go into exile with his wife Sita. That lasted a period of fourteen years.
Together with his half-brother Lakshmana and the army of "Varana" - originally means forest men and today means monkeys - under leading of his friends Hanuman, Angada and prince Sugriva, he fights with the evil and powerful demon king Ravana, who abducted his wife Sita to Lanka. The Garuda saved the injured Rama and Lakshmana, after which Rama kills Ravana and returns to Ayodhya to form an ideal state.
(ca. 50.000 lines of poetry in 5 sentences!)
The 1st set is a Java set with Ramayana theme. These are much rarer as the sets from Bali, and this early set is extremely scarce. The figures are based on Wayang Golek puppets. That are three-dimensional puppets in contrary to the flat leather puppets which are called Wayang Kulit. It is a very beautiful set, a bit large for the type and in good condition. There is some paint loss and there are a few flee bites. One of my favourites, for sure!
The other 8 are Bali sets with Ramayana theme. The King is Rama, in most sets sitting on the Garuda and the Queen is Sita. Bishop, Rook and pawns are the "Varana" (monkeys) or other mythological figures (in the 5th set is the Rook a Garuda). Knight could be Ravana (normally shown as man with multiple heads and arms?) The 1st set is, according Munger/III 2000, the old way to represent the Ramayana. I'm not 100% sure if the 5th set is representing the Ramayana.
The quality of the carving of these sets varies greatly. The best carved sets can be very costly and you do not see those in my collection. The 1st set is hardly carved but it is expressively painted. The 3rd and 4th set are carved quite well, which is not so common. The 2nd, 5th and 6th (=1st coloured) set are carved moderately, while both the 7th (=2nd coloured) and 8th aren't carved that well. But I have seen much worse too!
These sets are made for the tourist market and, except the 1st and 3rd one, are found in huge quantities. They come often with a teak storage box annex board as shown at the 5th and the last set. Sometimes there are legs that can be attached or turned out so that the box can be used as a chess table as well. They may also have primitively made disks and dices to play backgammon and checkers. Maybe some other game too, because there are 16 disks in each colour. Or is there just one spare? See last set.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="3197" gal_title="634"]
- Indonesia, Java, "Ramayana"
- 1900-1920
- Bamboo root K 14.4; p 7.4
- Board (Revanche) 46.8×46.8×1.5
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="1430" gal_title="502"]
- Indonesia, Bali, "Ramayana"
- 2nd half 20th century
- Wood K 12.3; p 6.3
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="3225" gal_title="639"]
- Indonesia, Bali, "Ramayana"
- 2nd half 20th century
- Wood K 12.3; p 6.3
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="569" gal_title="290"]
- Indonesia, Bali, "Ramayana"
- 1970
- Sawo + djati K 13.4+14.1; p 7.3-8.0
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="570" gal_title="013"]
- Indonesia, Bali, "Ramayana"
- 1979
- Paduk (or sawo?) + coromandel K 10.9; p 6.0
- Box/board (later period) 38.3×18.6×8.3
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="3173" gal_title="343"]
- Indonesia, Bali, "Ramayana"
- 1980
- Wood K 11.3; p 4.7
- Box/board 45.5×22.3×9.0 (closed)
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="572" gal_title="357"]
- Indonesia, Bali, "Ramayana"
- 1980
- Wood K 12.8; p 6.6
- Set was listed as from Thailand/Burma
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="573" gal_title="358"]
- Indonesia, Bali, "Ramayana"
- 1990
- Wood K 9.4; p 4.6
- Set was listed as from Thailand/Burma
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="574" gal_title="151"]
- Indonesia, Bali, "Ramayana"
- 1990
- Paduk K 10.3; p 4.9
- Box/board 38.0×18.5×8.1
Indonesia. These sets from Irian Jaya, West New Guinea, are based on the striking art of the Asmat, a very primitive tribe, but are conceived by a Chinese-Malay entrepreneur. The style resembles a European or American caricature: "primitive" black people as seen by "civilized" Indonesian.
[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id="1500" gal_title="517"]
- Indonesia, Irian Jaya
- 20th century
- Wood K 13.3; p 6.6