Majapahit: Sculptures from a Forgotten Kingdom

Flourishing in East Java, Indonesia, between the late 13th and the early 16th centuries, art from Majapahit had a decisive influence on the development of Southeast Asian culture: its highly distinctive style was characterized by the subtle balance between form and decoration and by a rich iconography strongly influenced by Sivaism and Buddhism. Today, these Majapahit artworks still constitute a highly interesting field of research, but they have been surprisingly far too little studied or published worldwide. This volume presents an exceptional selection of 86 Majapahit terracotta sculptures covering a wide range of sophisticated iconography--animals, images of motherhood, divinities--all drawn from popular legends of the period and part of a broader narrative series waiting to be discovered.