Flourishing in East Java Indonesia between the late 13th and the early 16th centuries art
from Majapahit had a decisive influence on the development of Southeast Asian culture: ist
highly distinctive style was characterized by the subtle balance between form and decoration
and by a rich iconography strongly influenced by Sivaism and Buddhism. Today these Majapahit
artworks still constitute a highly interesting field of research but they have been
surprisingly far too little studied or published worldwide. This volume presents an exceptional
selection of 77 Majapahit terracotta sculptures covering a wide range of sophisticated
iconography-animals images of motherhood divinities-all drawn from popular legends of the
period and part of a broader narrative series waiting to be discovered.
