Subject: warrior
Culture: Sumbanese
Setting: Sumba late 18th - early 19c
Object: mendaka pendant
* Dallas Museum of Art > Pacific Islands
"Ceremonial pendant (mendaka)
Indonesia: Lesser Sunda Islands, West Sumba, Lamboya, Bogar Kahale
19th century or earlier (possibly 14th to 16th century)
Gold alloy ...
This large and exceptional mendaka is cast in the form of a winged snake-dragon or serpent (ular galar), which guards a sacred cave filled with both material riches and the knowledge necessary for personal illumination. Its distinctive prongs are considered to be 'male' and represent 'the perpetual turning of the cosmos.' A powerful mendaka in the hands of a strong leader is a key that allows access to the aforementioned sacred cave. A mendaka was worn only by aristocrats as a chest piece or jacket pin, or was displayed when an important person died. They were also worn by the paramount war chiefs as an emblem of their rank and prowess."
* Dallas Museum of Art > Pacific Islands
"Man's symbolic pendant (mendaka)
Indonesia: Lesser Sunda Islands, West Sumba, Anakalang
Late 19th century or earlier
Gold ...
The pendant called mendaka is a symbol of rank, prestige, and power. Its cleft-oval shape implies that is [SIC] was used as an ear ornament. The Sundanese interpret the organic form as a winged snake-dragon or serpent. The mendaka is found only in West Sumba. A raja once told of receiving this pendant as a gift from his wife's father before their marriage, as an incentive to marry her."
