A window in Amsterdam
Yogya silver saucer - Indonesia
The motive of this particular early (1930-1932) Yogya saucer, showing a lotus pond, is directly inspired by a stone medallion of the Mantingan mosque on Java. The Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam has a photo of this stone medallion in its collection*. This and other motives were collected under the initiative of Mrs Van Gesseler Verschuir as inspiration for Indonesian silver smiths. This same design was used for a cigar box for Sultan Hamengkoe Boewono VIII of Yogyakarta.
Diameter 11,5 cm, 57 grams.
* collectie.tropenmuseum.nl/nBasicSearch.asp?lang=nl&so...
General:
Yogya silver (Dutch: Djokja) is a general name for a type of Indonesian silver produce from the 1930ies until now.
Beginning 20th century local silversmith started lacking commissions due to the impoverishment of the nobility. As the silver artisans went out of business, a Dutch Gouverneur's wife Van Gesseler Verschuir took it upon her to maintain the art by encouraging them to produce high quality utensilia for the Dutch using indigenous motives.
Numerous items like jewellery, ashtrays, lighters, cigarette cases, any possible type of cutlery, vases, candlesticks and photo frames were made. The main technique is repoussage and partly blackening of the silver, creating the typical dark “background”. The silver used is low quality ("800"), but the labour and knowledge required to make it is very high. Most of these items, produced from the 1930ies to the 1960ies, cannot be made any more as knowledge and practice disappeared. From the 1970ies onwards the - also laborious - filigree work is what is made on Java now.
For more information, see "Yogya Silver: Renewal of a Javanese Handicraft" by Pienke W.H. Kal or the web site www.djokja.nl/ - in Dutch.
Yogya silver saucer - Indonesia
The motive of this particular early (1930-1932) Yogya saucer, showing a lotus pond, is directly inspired by a stone medallion of the Mantingan mosque on Java. The Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam has a photo of this stone medallion in its collection*. This and other motives were collected under the initiative of Mrs Van Gesseler Verschuir as inspiration for Indonesian silver smiths. This same design was used for a cigar box for Sultan Hamengkoe Boewono VIII of Yogyakarta.
Diameter 11,5 cm, 57 grams.
* collectie.tropenmuseum.nl/nBasicSearch.asp?lang=nl&so...
General:
Yogya silver (Dutch: Djokja) is a general name for a type of Indonesian silver produce from the 1930ies until now.
Beginning 20th century local silversmith started lacking commissions due to the impoverishment of the nobility. As the silver artisans went out of business, a Dutch Gouverneur's wife Van Gesseler Verschuir took it upon her to maintain the art by encouraging them to produce high quality utensilia for the Dutch using indigenous motives.
Numerous items like jewellery, ashtrays, lighters, cigarette cases, any possible type of cutlery, vases, candlesticks and photo frames were made. The main technique is repoussage and partly blackening of the silver, creating the typical dark “background”. The silver used is low quality ("800"), but the labour and knowledge required to make it is very high. Most of these items, produced from the 1930ies to the 1960ies, cannot be made any more as knowledge and practice disappeared. From the 1970ies onwards the - also laborious - filigree work is what is made on Java now.
For more information, see "Yogya Silver: Renewal of a Javanese Handicraft" by Pienke W.H. Kal or the web site www.djokja.nl/ - in Dutch.