| I was in two minds about visiting this museum but Jan wanted to,
and it turned out
to be one of the best. There were four separate exhibitions when we visited.
These change periodically. The first was of ancient Javan artifacts
which included a number of funerary boats, ornately carved with dragons etc. |  |
 | There were some
costumes of dancers but these posters showed the outfits rather better so
I've included these instead. |  |
| A number of masks and headdresses were hanging from the ceiling,
probably because they take up so much space, all of them at least as big as
this one. They are worn in processions, and must take careful handling in
crowded places. |  |
The second exhibition was of Japanese dolls from the eighteenth century. These were exquisitely dressed in costumes of the period and were
both beautiful and fascinating (although some of the faces were quite scary).
 | Perhaps the most
strange was a collection of dolls displaying their insides. This one is even
pregnant. They were probably used for educational purposes. |
| This group setting portrays a courtesan orchestra each playing a
different instrument - there were 10 in all.
The display in the background is all of mechanical dolls which move in
various ways. The glass display cases made for
reflections which cause some problems.
. |  |
 | In a small annex was this doll's house with the rooms exquisitely furnished in
period style. It is quite a famous doll's house and there was an associated
film being shown. |  |
 | This is an all
together more fanciful portrayal of a doll's house, entitled 'A House for
Wednesday'. Wednesday is the elf seen on the right. |  |
 | Another exhibition
was of pottery of which these were examples. |  |
| The last exhibition was of Norwegian home life with costumes such
as these on display on models and on the walls. |  |
 | There were also
examples of furniture with wonderful inlays and marquetry skills. |  |
 |  |
Of particular interest to me was this fiddle which was a copy (made in 1810)
of a 'Hardanger' fiddle. The workmanship is amazing and the design is
somewhat unusual. The case is made of solid oak! |  |
| Lastly in the gift shop we spotted this book on baskets being
woven from telephone wire by the Zulus in South Africa. The guard was most
unhappy with us photographing in the shop (the museum was fine) but on
discovering what we were looking at he told us that the Zulus had been
digging up working cables to get the coloured wire. This caused so much work
for the telephone companies that they started giving the wire directly to
the Zulus - it is cheaper. It is to be hoped that, with the spread of cell
phone technology, someone finds a solution for them or this art form will
rapidly disappear! |  |
|