Anthropomorphic grave figure · Vietnam, Jarai (Jorai / Gia Rai) · ID: 3053178
Franco Rimoldi, Darmstadt, Germany
Description
iron wood, weathering, wind erosion, base
Figurative Jarai sculpture is traditionally connected to funerary practices. Jarai graves are small, house-like structures that also contain offerings and personal belongings of the deceased.
However, several years after the death and burial, the Jarai hold a final ceremony, known as “po thi”, adorning and then abandoning the gravesite. This ceremony, often several days long, marks a permanent farewell to the deceased and releases their spirit into the afterlife.
This type of sculpture would be part of a group placed around a tomb on wooden pillars as a final gift to the deceased and to serve as guardians (after Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology, Wake Forest University).
The execution of Jarai grave figures ranges stylistically from highly abstract to finely detailed. In this particular example, the body is strikingly flat and highly simplified.
Comparing literature
Phan Cam Thuong, Nguyen Tan Cu, The sculpture of funeral houses in Tay Nguyen, Hanoi 1995, p. 116