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Ceremonial string winder

19th–early 20th century
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 350
Boats play a central role, both physically and symbolically, in the arts and cultures of the peoples of Maluku Tenggara in eastern Indonesia. One of the region's most distinctive art forms was the ceremonial string winder, which was used in a number of areas. Crowned with carved finials depicting important ancestors, the central portion of the winders served as spools for ceremonial measuring cords, used to determine the correct dimensions of boats. The winders were also used to plot the layout of houses, which were seen metaphorically as ships. Both boats and houses were considered symbolically female, although each also had a male element whose presence symbolized the union of male and female cosmic forces. The figures on many string winders are female or of indeterminate gender. However, some, as the example on view here, appear to portray male subjects.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Ceremonial string winder
  • Artist: Kisar Island artist
  • Date: 19th–early 20th century
  • Geography: Indonesia, Kisar Island, Maluku Tenggara
  • Culture: Probably Kisar Island
  • Medium: Wood
  • Dimensions: H. 9 3/4 × W. 1 × D. 1 in. (24.8 × 2.5 × 2.5 cm)
  • Classification: Wood-Implements
  • Credit Line: Gift of Fred and Rita Richman, 1988
  • Object Number: 1988.143.107
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing

Audio

Cover Image for 1723. Ceremonial string winder, Kisar Island artist

1723. Ceremonial string winder, Kisar Island artist

Aone van Engelenhoven

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AONE VAN ENGELENHOVEN: The boat builders were the ones who were really real magicians.

My name is Aone van Engelenhoven. I'm a university lecturer at Leiden University, and my research is on storytelling, specifically in East Indonesia. I am originally from Southwest Maluku.

KATERINA TEAIWA (NARRATOR): This string winder helped the people of Maluku to build both houses and boats. The string that once wrapped around it acted as a measuring tape.

AONE VAN ENGELENHOVEN: So in order to build a boat in a certain moment, they would destroy their clan house, make that into a boat, then ask the women to make a sail. And before they would destroy the house, these winders that we see, they would measure the house, how big it is.

KATERINA TEAIWA: Once the string winder was used to measure the old, dismantled house…

AONE VAN ENGELENHOVEN: ...you would take it along on the boat, and then you would go out and find a new place to stay. If you have found a new place to stay, then you take out the winders and you build the house again.

KATERINA TEAIWA: In a culture where moving from island to island was common, this was a way to bring your house, history, and culture with you.

The carving at the top of the winder depicts an important ancestor. Some Islanders trace their ancestry all the way back to the very first arrivals.

AONE VAN ENGELENHOVEN: The people that live here consider themselves to be somehow descendants of an old continent that doesn't exist anymore.

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