07

Iko, before 1906, Relief in wood featuring Batara-Vishnu, wood (probably teak), 103 x 89 cm, Wereldmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. nr. TM-H-3107. 

A copy of a relief like that seen on Candi Mendut (near Borobudur), which is said to have been created under C. den Hamer. Batara-Vishnu is the fifth son of Betara Guru and a patron deity of the world (Kertonegoro, The Javanese & Balinese Wayang Figures, 42). Iko’s version was on display in 1908 at an exhibition of Dutch East Indies applied arts, held from March 15th to 29th at “Voor de Kunst” in Utrecht, which included works from the collections of the Colonial Museum, the School of Applied Arts in Haarlem, the Boeatan Association in The Hague, and private collections. This relief was in the collection of the Colonial Museum in Haarlem and passed to that of the later Tropenmuseum Amsterdam, now the Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, where it remains. Source: UA 772-2 Vereniging ‘Voor de Kunst’ Utrecht; Collectie Wereldmuseum, “Houten plank met vermoedelijk een bodhisattva geïnspireerd op die van de Candi Mendut.”