Group Members: Jiao Jun, Josiah, Jade, Jae
Team 5 Final Project
There are 3 posts filed in Team 5 Final Project (this is page 1 of 1).
Contextual Analysis: Guri Guri
Medicine Jars (Guri Guri)
Porcelain: China, 19th century
Wood and Rattan: Northen Sumatra, 19th century
This object originates from the Bataks who live mostly in the mountainous regions of northern Sumatra. Magic formed the main gist of Batak religious practice before the widespread of Christianity in the early 20th century. Batak priests known as datu stored their medicinal concoctions(pupuk) in ceramic with carved wooden stoppers, known as guri guri. These imported ceramic jars from China were often highly prized as heirlooms for the Bataks. Batak priests normally produce a wide variety of medicinal concoctions both for use in healing and for enhancement of protection amulets and figures. Pupuk was commonly ritually applied to objects and sculpted figures in order to animate them with magic for protection or aggression. At times, these medicinal concoctions may be used to eliminate enemies at war.
Mythical creatures such as singa are common in Batak carving and often adorn the role as handlers of tools. The wooden stoppers were used to seal the mouths of the vessels. The singa is often associated with the idea of prestige and supernatural power. The singa often takes the body of a horse, the mount and protector of important ancestors and divine beings. Horses were regarded as a superior good and only the elites were able to afford them, therefore, horses were often associated with the high rank and chiefs. Combining this with the fact that the batak people willingness to import this from China to their mountainous regions, the long trouble further valued that this guri guri was an important product among the Batak people.
Pupuk was prepared from the remains of a ritually executed human victim with liquid it holds being the bodily fluids of the victim. The Batak believed that the victim’s spirit could be summoned to perform the datu’s bidding. The wooden stopper, in this case, I believed was used to prevent the spirit from escaping the container and protecting the supernatural power held within at the same time.
Ceramics imported from China were valued by many indigenous groups in Southeast Asia for their rarity, beauty and durability. These ceramics were used as currency and more commonly for rituals. Miniature jars were made in China for the function of exporting oils and ointments to Southeast Asia for trade in local spices such as cloves and sandalwood.
With relation to our group’s theme, the use of imported Chinese ceramics by the Batak people reflects the highly developed trade network and there were close connections between these two cultures, thereby, there was a change in usage of such vessels when it comes in contact with a different culture, in this case, in Indonesia, Sumatra.
Sources:
Dalleva, Anne. “Art of Island Southeast Asia: The Fred and Rita Richman Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art./Island Ancestors: Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection:Art of Island Southeast Asia: The Fred and Rita Richman Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.;Island Ancestors: Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection,.” Museum Anthropology 19, no. 2 (1995): 111-12.
Vergouwen, J. C. “The Genealogy of the Batak People.” The Social Organisation and Customary Law of the Toba-Batak of Northern Sumatra, 1964, 5-16.
Free Writing: Visual Analysis of Guri Guri
Medicine Jar (Guri- Guri)
Porcelain: China, 19th Century
Wood and Rattan: Northern Sumatra
This blue-and white ceramic vessel was made in China with its carved wooden stopper that seals the mouth of the ceramic, added in Northern Sumatra. The size of the ceramic vessel is not more than half a palm size, such small volume size suggests that the object it holds is either a liquid or items that are relatively small in size. The string attached at the mouth of the vessel might be used for easy portability or hanged for storage. On the carved wooden stopper, a regal Batak looking figure was seen riding atop an animal, such addition implies that the ceramic vessel was adapted for local use in Northern Sumatra. The use of Chinese wares by the Indonesians reflects the highly developed trade system in the South China Sea since or way before the 19th century.
The carved wooden stopper depicts a figure mounted on a horse looking creature. The rider has a disproportionately large head, an elongated body and attenuated limbs. He is seen wearing a tall headwear with repeating sweeping curves, topped with rattan. In contrast with the highly decorative headwear, the body of the rider has comparatively much less decorated motifs on it. The equestrian rider possibly symbolizes status and nobility since only the higher ranked officials could afford horses. Adding on, the horse looking creature has great resemblance to the carvings on traditional ritual staffs and totems, often appearing in the chief’s dwellings or tombs of high-ranked village elderlies, these staffs often have rattan woven on them too, which we have learned that these beings are guardians protecting something important.
Relating what we have learned in this context, such similarities suggest the rider may be associated with someone who is prestige and holds supernatural power, guarding what the ceramic vessel is holding. This medicine jar might be commonly used during rituals or important occasions. The ceramic vessel from China has a broad base with a short cylindrical body. The sheer size of the vessel compared to its other larger size counterparts suggests that it is meant to be placed on higher platforms like a table. In China, the blue and white ink on the porcelains are amongst the highest quality ceramic reserved for important people. We can see great effort and the importance of the medicine jar by its intricate design deriving from just wood carving.
Consolidating these evidences, I conclude that the guri guri is an object of high importance and superiority, only the tribe leaders or high status people can make use of during rituals. With blue and white ceramics a luxury good in China, this mixed cultural object highlight that trade was prevalent and extensive in Northern Sumatra and further proves the significance of the guri guri.