Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Tempo Doeloe Indonesian Vintage Auction

[slideshow]

The enthusiasm and interest of many art connoisseurs in collecting Indonesian vintage furniture and decorative items, as emphasized in the success of SIDHartA Auctioneer’s Javanese Antique Furniture and Folk Art Auction in February 2011, has led us to conduct an annual auction in Bali.

Entitled Tempo Doeloe, the auction is meant to take us on a journey back to the “the good old days”, not in historical terms, but to the nostalgic times when natural materials, particularly wood, was crafted with great sensibility and respect, for societies that considered aesthetics as an integral part of life. Of course, we will never be able to replicate those times, but we need to be continuously reminded of the values that were held dearly in the past, and perhaps that is the reason why people collect vintage art pieces.

In this auction we offer a variety of items, ranging from tables and chairs, old books, fine statues, and cabinets and architectural structures, in a variety of different styles. The furniture in the auction range from intricately crafted classical Javanese pieces, to expressive and artistically carved folk Javanese works, pieces with touches of European or Chinese influence, modern pieces dating from the 1950s and 1960s, and even some recent interpretations by a famous Indonesian interior designer.

Among the acceptional pieces in the auction, are some fine court-style Javanese cabinets and chests. There are a number of exceptional Loro Blonyo statues, the male and female figures often placed in traditional Javanese houses as a couple symbolizing unity and harmony, and also a Balinese counterpart.

You can find a number of interesting architectural elements, including the blandar tumpang sari and soko guru structural elements of a Javanese joglo house, the jineman wooden chamber, finely carved gebyok house or room facades, or even simple but elegantly carved wooden columns. There are also some fun miniatures of furniture modeled in the Art Deco style.

Through our Tempo Doeloe auctions, we hope to continuously remind people of the splendor of vintage Indonesian arts and crafts, as well as rejuvenate interest in collecting and develop understanding of the fine and unique pieces from this vast nation.

The most valuable, refine and unique collectible pieces might be purchased by the seasoned connoisseurs. However, we try to provide something for everyone, and so the novice collectors should be able to pick up a few items to start their collection. There shoud also be some things that would appeal to dealers, if some interesting pieces are overlooked by the connoisseurs and collectors. For those of you who do not yet have an interest in purchasing, but have some interest in vintage items, we hope that you know that you are most welcome just to take a look. We hope that our auction will become an exciting event for a community of vintage Indonesian furniture and decorative items, that can be held regularly in Bali.

I hope that you will enjoy the preview and auction. Happy bidding!

Amir Sidharta

 

The SIDHartA Auctioneer Tempo Doeloe auction will be held at the Bali Art Center, Jl. Nusa Indah, Denpasar, this Sunday, 11 March 2012, starting at 1:30 pm.

For the e-catalog, please visit: http://sidhartaauctioneer.com/ecat/2012/va11032012/

2 comments: