AKT.30 DESIGN AREAS IN OCEANIA KRIEGER 41 



leaf," "bamboo sprouts," and " flying- fox elbows."' Certain types 

 of covered metal bowls from Sumatra, covered cups, and trays, cups 

 for holding betel-nut are often designed to represent the lotus flower, 

 the petals of which may be in relief or engraved. The flower of the 

 gourd vine and other flowers are occasionally engraved in the center 

 of metal plates or as a motive for concentric bands. The lotus may 

 also appear on large metal belt buckles, with the petals beaten out 

 in relief and arranged around the central boss. 



The so-called fern curves pattern, from the curvmg of the shoots 

 of the fern frond, is a design applied by the Sumatran Malay and by 

 the Bornean Kayan. This is combined with the conventional " dog " 

 pattern, parts of which end in trifid shoots, the backs of the dog being 

 bent to form a meandered series. 



Swastika motives are fairly common and may occur with direct 

 or indirect (counterclockwise) arms. All these designs appear in 

 insular Malayan art and on the Malay Peninsula, even to a limited 

 extent in Siam, as in the niello work of that country. 



The fish-tail motive is illustrated in Ceylonese work and in 

 the Malayan type of water dipper in which the coconut bowl has 

 attached to it a handle of wood with cleft or " fish tail " end. In the 

 Sinhalese specimens the coconut bowl has an ivory handle shaped 

 like the fish-tail Malay handle, however, in rather complicated form, 

 as it is usually represented as a fish submerging down the mouth of 

 the whale-elephant, only the tail being visible. 



It is frequently difficult to distinguish between Javanese and 

 Hindu or Buddhist art objects. This is particularly the case in 

 carved figurines or decorative friezes. Stone and bronze decorated 

 figurines and vessels are frequently undistinguishable, the Javanese 

 from the Indian and vice versa. The same confusion results in 

 Balinese work, as the island of Bali was in part settled direct from 

 India; also from the introduction of wayang figurines from India, 

 which are used with or without masks in theatrical entertainments 

 in Java and elsewhere in the East Indies. Indian color predominated 

 in one type of wayang, in which pictures are introduced. In the 

 more Javanese types of wayang (" puraa " and " klitik ") carving 

 in leather or in wood betrays the more characteristic Malayan prefer- 

 ences in design motivation and technique, as contrasted with Indian 

 love of color. This is seen also in the vivid yellow painting of the 

 Geruda-bird carving, on which is mounted the goddess Visnu 

 (Krishna) , a splendid example of Balinese art directly influenced by 

 Indian mythology. 



Banded decorative devices of triangles painted or woven into tjio 

 matting and textiles, the design representing the fern frond or a 

 bamboo shoot, are to be seen everywhere in Malaysia, in Bali, 



