Balinese Root Carving of Rawana and Jatayu (1989)

Balinese Root Carving of Rawana and Jatayu
50h x 75 x 52cm (20 x 29 x 21.5 inches)

This remarkable and large root carving depicts a scene from the Hindu Ramayana epic – the fateful battle between the evil Rawana, demon king of Lanka, and the valiant vulture Jatayu.  Rawana is on his way to Lanka after kidnapping Sita when Jatayu tries to rescue her.  Unhappily Rawana gets the better of him.

The subject is cleverly composed around the natural form of an old satin-wood tree root.

It was carved in the late 80s by Balinese artist Wayan Balik from whom it was purchased in 1990.  It took him months to carve and he considered it his best work to date.

Unfortunately the wood has developed a few cracks and shakes over the years, which is not uncommon for a root carving of this size, but this does not seriously detract from the power and beauty of this amazing carving which has now mellowed to a lovely golden yellow.  However, this damage is reflected in the current asking price (our original gallery retail price would have been around £2,000 in the early 1990s).

This wonderful carving has graced our own home for many years, but sadly we no-longer have the space to display it as we would wish. This is a carving that displays well and needs to be seen in the round, perhaps on a stand, but it would look spectacular suspended at head height from a wire attached to the ceiling.

Note: As this is a particularly large and heavy carving there will be a surcharge to cover the additional cost of shipping and insurance, and the buyer will later be invoiced at cost for any shipping and insurance shortfall, estimated to be between £75 and £125 ($115 to around $195).