Stylistic analysis of Central Javanese art | SOAS University of London
Channel: SOAS University of London
Date: 11/03/2019

Stylistic analysis of Central Javanese art and its use in solving problems of historiography was a seminar given by Professor Marijke Klokke (University of Leiden) at the Centre of South East Asian Studies, SOAS University of London on 30 January 2019. Find out more at http://bit.ly/2tZCpVD

Central Javanese temples are full of ornament: ornamental bands, garlands, kala heads, makaras, repeat patterns and spiral scroll ornaments, for instance. In this lecture I will present a chronology of Central Javanese temple ornament and show that an analysis of their forms and styles may contribute to solving questions of Central Javanese history and bringing clarity to the web of theories that have developed, for instance on the date of Borobudur, on the Hindu Loro Jonggrang temple complex and connections to the Buddhist Śailendras, on relationships between Hindu and Buddhist kings in general, on relationships between northern and southern Central Java, on fragmentation or centralization of the state and on connections with East Java, Sumatra and beyond.

Biography
Marijke Klokke is professor by special appointment of South and Southeast Asian Art and Material Culture at Leiden University. After studying Indian and Iranian Languages and Cultures in Leiden, with a major in the early history and art history of India and Indonesia, and minors in Old Javanese and Indonesian, she received her PhD from Leiden University in 1990. She worked as assistant curator in the Oriental Department of Leiden University Library and as curator at the Leiden Museum of Ethnology and she has been teaching at Leiden University since 1991. She has published extensively on the Hindu and Buddhist art of Indonesia, in particular that of Java. Works include The Tantri reliefs on ancient Javanese candi. Leiden: KITLV (1993) and  a forthcoming publication: A golden age of temple building in Java (8th-9th centuries): chronology and historical contextualization.