Wayang painting

RSWORD · 2nd October 2015, 01:49 PM

Looking to learn a bit more about these Wayang paintings. Vibrant colors on cloth. They all seem to show good age but how much exactly? Two have inscriptions. What kind of script is it? What was the purpose of these paintings? Were they used in conjunction with the puppet shows? What do these scenes represent? Sorry for all the questions but these are interesting items and would love to learn as much as I can about them.

Rick · 2nd October 2015, 04:37 PM

Interesting that their eyes are all looking to the sky or heaven .

A. G. Maisey · 3rd October 2015, 01:40 AM

What is the size of the painting? How long, how wide?

It might be a wayang beber scroll. Wayang beber is just about dead these days, but it actually pre-dates wayang kulit. The dalang tells the story while the scroll is unrolled. I seem to recall that the stories are from East Javanese legends.

A few years ago there were still painters in Solo who could produce wayang beber scrolls, and they would do short versions for use as wall decorations. I heard about a dalang from south of Solo --- maybe Pacitan --- who still gave performances

RSWORD · 4th October 2015, 04:54 AM

They vary in size but on average they are 50' long and 31" wide. In researching these I ran across the possibility of wayang beber but I couldn't find much information about them particularly many examples. They don't seem too common.

A. G. Maisey · 4th October 2015, 09:54 AM

No, not common, as I said, wayang beber is all but dead.

If your paintings are fifty feet long, I'd say almost certainly wayang beber scrolls, unwound as the dalang tells the story.

RSWORD · 4th October 2015, 01:38 PM

That was a typo on my part. 50" long. Do you know what type of script is used on the 2 examples that are signed?

2nd October 2015, 01:49 PM	#1
RSWORD Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Greensboro, NC Posts: 1,083	Wayang painting Looking to learn a bit more about these Wayang paintings. Vibrant colors on cloth. They all seem to show good age but how much exactly? Two have inscriptions. What kind of script is it? What was the purpose of these paintings? Were they used in conjunction with the puppet shows? What do these scenes represent? Sorry for all the questions but these are interesting items and would love to learn as much as I can about them. Attached Images

2nd October 2015, 04:37 PM	#2
Rick Vikingsword Staff Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 6,293	Interesting that their eyes are all looking to the sky or heaven .

3rd October 2015, 01:40 AM	#3
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,892	What is the size of the painting? How long, how wide? It might be a wayang beber scroll. Wayang beber is just about dead these days, but it actually pre-dates wayang kulit. The dalang tells the story while the scroll is unrolled. I seem to recall that the stories are from East Javanese legends. A few years ago there were still painters in Solo who could produce wayang beber scrolls, and they would do short versions for use as wall decorations. I heard about a dalang from south of Solo --- maybe Pacitan --- who still gave performances

4th October 2015, 04:54 AM	#4
RSWORD Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Greensboro, NC Posts: 1,083	They vary in size but on average they are 50' long and 31" wide. In researching these I ran across the possibility of wayang beber but I couldn't find much information about them particularly many examples. They don't seem too common.

4th October 2015, 09:54 AM	#5
A. G. Maisey Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 6,892	No, not common, as I said, wayang beber is all but dead. If your paintings are fifty feet long, I'd say almost certainly wayang beber scrolls, unwound as the dalang tells the story.

4th October 2015, 01:38 PM	#6
RSWORD Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Greensboro, NC Posts: 1,083	That was a typo on my part. 50" long. Do you know what type of script is used on the 2 examples that are signed?