Antique Indonesian Carved Wood Figure

This is a purchase from last year. It looks like a very old Indonesian carved wood figure of a Princess. The wood looks very old with a lot of wear and it looks like it was painted red at one time and perhaps other colors.

The statue measures about 10" in height and about 3" in width at it's widest point and it's fairly heavy for it's size. The figure looks like it may have had multiple purposes in time, perhaps a statue, door handle, doll, or other things.

Does anyone know where this carved wood figure is from, who it is, how old it might be and what it was used for or anything else?

Thanks!
Kevin

 

She is lovely, most likely a Hindu goddess.
The way the skirt is worn, symmetrical with the central part tucked higher into the waist band, looks very Indian. An Indonesian sarung (tube skirt) would have a fold on one side, an Indonesian kain (what we would call sarong) would be worn with one flap hanging down one side, often past the feet.
Earrings in the Indonesian Hindu regions (pre WW II) were either round discs or twisted leaves worn through the extended earlobes.
The paneled crown again doesn't look Indonesian. It reminds me of Himalayan crowns.
The tilaka/tika or round spot on the forehead is Hindu.
My guess is Hindu Nepal or northern India.

 

Any Jewelry, thanks for your information! You point out a lot of good detail facts. If it were of a Hindu goddess which Hindu goddess might this wood carving best represent? I looked at a few list of them and couldn't find a real close match with the dress attire on this piece.

 

The problem is that there are hundreds of Hindu Goddesses and many different regional representations of each. In essence all Goddesses are a manifestation of Shakti.
Shakta's, those who worship Shakti as their main deity, often wear a very large tika on their forehead, like your statue does. Their worship centres on Shakti as Durga, the protectress and fighter against demons.
If we only had an idea of what object she is carrying, that might bring us closer to her identity. The people of her region will probably recognise it.
I propose Shakti as a working title.

 

Any Jewelry, thanks for the information. Yes, I see the problem with identifying the Goddess. I've looked closely at what she has in her hand and I can only come up with some type of hand warmer, instrument or offering. I think Shakti would be a good working title as you proposed.

The carved wood figure does look to me like it may have been part of a structure of some type and used *perhaps* in an old Temple or frequently visited place (just a guess, this would explain the excessive wear and aged look of it).

There are a number of holes in the wood and it looks like it was mounted to something at some time. There is a hole on the bottom at an angle that still has a small piece of a wood rod in it. There are 2 holes on the top of it and there are 4 small holes in a squared area on the back. I've included some more photo images to point this out and show them.

Thanks!
Kevin.

 

She is a bit of a mystery. Because of the many holes I've been looking at pictures of gateways, Hindu altars, procession floats, etc. but haven't found anything that vaguely resembles her.
I don't know much about Indian folk art, but it is clear that she is pretty old. Maybe you should contact a museum.

 

Thanks Any Jewelry for researching her. I had done similar and even looked at online museum listings for anything like her but didn't find anything.

Yes, she sure looks old and with the wear looks like she was handled a lot or in a public place for a long time attached to something that would be easily touched by the public on a regular basis.