Foliated Pattern in Malay Carving and Silverwork.
By R. O. Winstedt.
On p. 48 of my paper on "Malay Industries, Part I," "Arts and Crafts" (Kuala Lumpur, 1909), I wrote of Malay repoussé work. "It owes many of its patterns to Indian influence—the conventional lotus flower, the leaf of the sacred fig and so on-but there is not a technical term that is foreign for metal (gold and silver) tool or pattern, so that there would seem to be no reason why it should be inferred to be Indian in origin. Indeed it must be something more than coincidence that foliated pattern of the same chaste restraint and conventional character is the note of Malay wood-carving.”
After a visit last year to the famous Bara-bodor in Java, I am persuaded that it is due to "something more than coincidence" that Malay and Javanese carvings and silverwork have their chaste foliated patterns:—namely, to Indian influence. The foliation carved between the panels illustrating the life of the Buddha on that wonderful memorial is identical with the foliation loved by the Malay craftsman, e.g. the socalled 'pine-apple' or 'side view of the lotus' pattern. This can be seen clearly, too, on some of the picture-postcards sold of the Bara-bodor. It would be interesting to know if there are similar foliated patterns on the ruins of Angkor Wat?
