Balinese Art Deco wood carving of a sleeping fawn with original sales label – Pita Maha period, 1930s

Balinese Art Deco wood carving of a sleeping fawn with original sale label – Pita Maha period, 1930s

A touching Balinese wood carving of a curled-up, sleeping fawn (kijang). The head rests on the front legs; the lines are soft and stylised. The sculpture is carved from a single piece of warm, light brown wood and mounted on a black wooden base. Style and execution are characteristic of Balinese Art Deco wood carving of the 1930s, the era of Pita Maha, when deer were a favourite subject. The original sale label under the base supports this dating (see below).

Why we chose this piece

It is one of those small sculptures you keep coming back to. With very few lines, the carver captured the calm of a sleeping animal. Carvings like this came to the Netherlands in the 1930s to 1950s with travellers and Indo-Dutch families.

Style and interior

Lovely on a bookshelf, side table or mantelpiece in an Art Deco, colonial, wabi-sabi or eclectic interior. Together with the luwak carving, which comes from the same source, it makes a beautiful duo.

Provenance and label

Under the oval base the original sale label is still present: a small, red-bordered label with a printed “No.” and “f”, filled in by hand with number 40. The “f” stands for guilder (florin). The label belongs to a system of catalogue number and price. Exactly the same type of label is found on carvings sold at the sales exhibitions of the Balinese artists’ association Pita Maha. These exhibitions were held between 1936 and 1941 in Batavia, Bandoeng and Jogjakarta, among other places, at the local Kunstkring art societies. Deer were a popular subject: the catalogue of the Batavia exhibition of February 1939, for example, featured a wood carving of a deer on its cover.

The label therefore indicates that this carving was sold in the 1930s through one of these Pita Maha sales exhibitions. We are still researching in which catalogue number 40 appears. As soon as we know, we will add the exhibition and, if known, the maker here.

Dimensions: width 16 cm, depth 10.6 cm, height 7.5 cm
Material: tropical hardwood, black wooden base
Period: 1930s (before 1942)
Origin: Bali, Indonesia; original sale label No. 40, of the type used at the Pita Maha sales exhibitions
Condition: good. No cracks or loose parts visible. Light signs of use, a few small dark spots in the wood and some tiny dents. The base is attached with two screws (with wooden plugs).

To be auctioned. Please contact us if you would like to be informed about the auction.

More about this style: Art deco: clean lines, warm materials and a touch of daring

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