Featured Bali Art Deco carving. Latest addition, it's a girl.

I generally don't buy 'random' Bali Art Deco girls. My collection is mostly Gods and Goddesses, dancers and musicians.
But sometimes one just takes my breath away, and this girl has 'it':


The Art Deco period lasted longer on Bali, from ca 1930-1970.
After centuries of carving religious subjects, meeting Western artists in the 1930s encouraged the Balinese to carve everyday scenes. The girl with a hand mirror dressing her hair was one of the early favourites.
This girl was carved from hibiscus wood in the late 40s. Hibiscus wood has parts with a greenish tinge.



No idea how her top stays on. Being made of wood no doubt helps. Who cares, she is beautiful.

 

She is beautiful AJ!

I associate hibiscus with the flowering hibiscus plant, rather than the mallow tree that google brings up.

I have a white mallow in my own yard.......altho it still hasn't come alive yet after its Winter sleep.

 

Thanks Judy.
This wood is from what we know as the flowering plant, the China rose. It is related to 'our' mallow tree. In the tropics and subtropics the hibiscus tree is a proper tree, and can grow up to 5 metres, 16' tall.

 

Massive! We don't grow 'em that big around here. The flower looks the same tho!!

Googling, I've come to know that there are many types of carvings created from it.

 

Just curious.....how did you find her?

 

Through our local equivalent of Craig's list.
She came with a smaller sister. Same subject, smaller but slightly older, carved of gorgeous coromandel wood. She is also lovely, but will be put up for sale. Either that, or build an extension.

 

Build the extension!

 

I'll post a photo of the smaller sister later, she is lovely, but this one is my favourite.

 

Presenting, from 1930s Bali, the coromandel sister:

 

The IT girl huh, wasn't that Clara Bow?

 

Not sure they knew her in Bali.

I prefer my IT girl.

 

looks like the wood...didn't help 'her' with her top........

 

Oh yes it did - big time!

 

she is beautiful AJ!

 

Thank you, cx.

 

Very nice AJ. Enjoy!

 

Thank you pearls, I will.

 

I love her AJ !! The curve of her body .. the dreamy sultry look on her face, her whole presence is pleasing to the eye. I also like the 'sister' piece .. I love the look of coromandel wood, very pricey though. They both are a delight for the eyes ... Joy.

 

Thank you, Joy.
That dreamy look is one way of dating her, there were different fashions of carving. This is just before 1950, after 1950 they were even more dreamy, almost trance-like, my avatar is an example of that.
The coromandel girl is older, no dreamy look there.
Coromandel is protected in Indonesia now, and this is a particularly nice piece of wood, but our price for her will be reasonable.

 

OMG, The IT girl is having children in here!