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Southeast Asian

KHMER - Bangles - bronze - 4 x 4 in.
KHMER
Singas are the most important decorative element seen in Batak Toba houses. <br>The word singa comes from Sanskrit and means “lion”. There are innumerable <br>representations, but mostly, they just depict the head, which is significant for two <br>reasons. Firstly, the Toba believe that it keeps misfortune, diseases and evil <br>influences from the house and its inhabitants, and also that it can release positive <br>beneficial powers for the good of the inhabitants. To the Batak the singa is a <br>mythological primeval beast of no defined zoological species. The horn is often <br>regarded as another memory of the world-tree. It rises above the head of the <br>mythological underworld beast, which is imagined as the naga, the serpent or <br>serpent-dragon. <br> <br>The Batak Toba people live in in the remote mountainous highlands in the western <br>and eastern coastal region north of the equator, with many deep valleys carved by <br>rivers and streams. Their homes are large rectangular buildings on massive <br>wooden pillars with three levels, corresponding to the three spheres of the <br>cosmos. The space for the animals below the living level symbolizes the underworld. The high roof above the living level is the abode of the gods and also sometimes the ancestors. The side beams of the house with the singa heads at their front ends support the room where people live and are thus comparable with the underworld dragon.
SUMATRA
THAI - Ban Chiang Blackware Vessel - blackware pottery - 10 1/2 x 9 x 9 in.
THAI
UNKNOWN - Ifugao Spoon - Wood
UNKNOWN