Shadow puppet representing Men Brayut
Item
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Title
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Shadow puppet representing Men Brayut
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Creator
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Unidentified artist
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Subject
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Shadow puppet
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Culture
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Javanese
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Medium
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Buffalo leather; buffalo horn; pigments
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Format
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13 3/8 x 23 5/8 inches; 34 x 60 cm
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Description
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Pan and Mem Brayut are characters from a popular folktale in Java and Bali depicting scenes of domestic life. Pan Brayut is the husband of Mem Brayut, and together they have eighteen children. In this puppet, Pan Brayut is depicted with the children with varying age groups. The babies are depicted in the middle, while the slightly bigger toddlers on the top, and the bigger kids on the bottom. While Pan and Mem Brayut live in poverty when raising their children, they become rich when the children grow up and are able to work. Perhaps, these characters are manifestations of the popular belief saying “with many children comes abundance” (“banyak anak, banyak rezeki”).
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Provenance
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Gift of Joseph Fischer acquired through the George and Mary Rockwell Fund and the gift of Louise Taraldson Woods by exchange
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Rights
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Collection of the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. Coll. no. 2008.073.040
