Palm Leaf Manuscript (1 results)

Oblong, 220 x 35 mm. 5 ff. Balinese on palm leaf. Balinese script in inscriped black ink. Illustrated with five hand-inscribed scenes. Wooden boards with delicately carved designs. Five mythological scenes hand-inscribed on the dried leaves of the lontar palm, each with a line on the reverse in Balinese script. Similar palm-leaf manuscripts from Lombok, today part of Indonesia, show scenes from Hindu or Muslim mythologies. These include the Ramayana, Adi Parva from the Mahabharata, the story of the Prophet Yusuf (Joseph), and Bharatayuddha. An illustrated copy of the latter, similar to the present manuscript, is held at the British Library (Or 13379, f. 6r). - The illustrations of this manuscript are clearly meant to be read together, similar to comic strips, with one scene following another to tell a short section of a story. To create this manuscript, a scene was first painstakingly inscribed by hand into the delicate palm leaf, and then ink was rubbed into the scored lines to finish the drawing. Unlike paper, palm leaves are ideal for hot, humid climates like that of Lombok, and have been used in Southeast Asia for thousands of years. - Faintly toned. In very good condition. - Cf. London, British Library, Or 13379, f. 6r.