gender
- Museum number
- As1859,1228.207
- Description
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Gamelan instrument called gender. The instrument has eleven bronze keys strung above bamboo tube resonators. This piece has a large carved Garuda (giant bird) on the front and a crowned naga (serpent) on each side. Carved, painted and gilded.
- Production date
- Late 1700s - early 1800s (Before 1816)
- Dimensions
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Height: 74 centimetres
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Weight: 17.90 kilograms
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Width: 134 centimetres
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Depth: 40 centimetres
- Curator's comments
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Register says: Wood 'Gender' composed of 11 metal plates, suspended over pipes ortubes, in front a large bird with extended wings. Dragons at sides. Comp.Pl.Fig4. ( Raffles' Java.)
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From acquisition notes "gender".
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Tuning this instrument involved shaving the bamboo resonators. The musician would have sat cross-legged in front of it and played with two soft beaters, one held in each hand.
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This instrument is in the older style (18th Century), it is very high off the ground and it has fewer keys than most gender today. It is also clearly designed to be seen from the front. The hair style of the Garuda does not reach all the way down to form a ring, this style of carving strongly suggests that it was made in the northern coastal region of Java, rather than Central Java (compare with the shadow puppets in the Raffles collection which do have central Javanese style). See also Walter Angst 2007 The Fantastic World Of Indonesian Puppet Theatre. From comments made by Mathew Cohen 24/10/2008
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According to Jeune Scott-Kemball in a 1976 letter, the scaling of the Raffles gamelan instruments was determined by Jaap Kunst in 1938. All the instruments except one were slendro. The exception is pelog. The ordering of the keys in the scale was determined by a Javanese musician.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2009 1 May-20 Sep, Victoria, Royal BC Museum, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2009 11 Dec-2010 10 May, Madrid, Canal de Isabel II, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2019 29 Jan-May, Singapore, Asian Civilisations Museum, Raffles in Southeast Asia
2019-2020 Sept-Jan, Gallery 91, Sir Stamford Raffles
- Acquisition date
- 1859
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- As1859,1228.207
