Asian Civilization Museum: Artifacts

Metal works

This metal works are done by tribal south east asia. It is not seen as mere handicraft but as works of creation. Therefore, there are taboos like men doing metal work. Each metal work has a unique design and precise detail that gives the craft character, almost making it come to life. Every little detail that can be seen from the piece of art reflects on the culture of the Tribal South East Asia.

These metal works have different functions to it. The ones showcased act as jewelry and different pieces signify different things. The difference between today’s jewelry is that in today’s context, the jewelrl are generally smaller and easier to wear.

Pottery and other materials

These artifacts are some materials and pottery that were dug from the ground. From the picture, we can see that most of the pottery are broken and eroded. We can infer from this that the pottery pieces are made with cement. The pottery also displays detailed nice workmanship and it is most likely all handmade. In the display, there is a mercury jar. This mercury jar was most likely used to store mercury for medical reasons or to gain gold. It is something we do not see now a days.

In today’s context, cement is hardly used in making bowls and plates. Since cement is brittle, it is not convenient to use it to make kitchen tools, hence plastic and glass are more likely to be used. However, some pots and traditional kitchen still use cement. Technology is more advance compared to the past, hence a more convenient and safer way will be used to store mercury to use it.

Pei-Jeng style Bronze Drum

This artifact is the Pei-Jeng style Bronze Drum. The drum was cast when people in East-Java Indonesia were lost. They would cast the drum so that their family members could trace out where they are. This drum is one of the biggest drum in Indonesia.

It is different from the modern day as now a days we use out mobile phones to contact people and get their address. We do not have to cast any drum and we can use maps on our phone to trace out the location and how to get to the location. We also can take a physical map with us to trace out our locatoin

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