Stylogenyin the style of Javanese Wayang Kulit (Tatah Sungging)

Traditions & vernacular · 1500–present · Southeast Asia

Javanese Wayang Kulit (Tatah Sungging)

Also known as Wayang kulit purwa, Javanese shadow puppets, Tatah sungging (the carving and painting of wayang)

The visual language of Javanese shadow puppets: flat figures cut from buffalo parchment, with head and legs in profile, shoulders turned to the front and long jointed arms worked by horn rods. Their insides are punched into filigree that draws costume and jewellery in light on the screen; both faces are painted in stepped colour gradations and gilded, for viewers on the puppeteer's side. Eyes, nose, head tilt, stance, size and face colour code each character as refined, strong, coarse or comic (the much-loved panakawan clowns); the leaf-shaped gunungan opens and closes the play.

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A sample layout drawn from the style’s design choices. Its AI image is held back until someone who knows the tradition has checked it.

Use it with care

Wayang kulit is a living Javanese theatre and craft, on UNESCO's intangible heritage list (proclaimed 2003, inscribed 2008): its puppets are made by carvers and painters for working dalang, and some performances are rites, such as the ruwatan exorcism held for children born under unlucky circumstances. Every figure is a particular character whose eyes, nose, head tilt, stance, size and face colour carry meaning, so do not assemble invented characters from mixed features or use a puppet as generic 'exotic' decoration. Semar, father of the other panakawan, is said to be the god Sang Hyang Ismaya in human form and is held by some to be the most sacred figure of the set, so do not reduce him to a clown or mascot. Never use kasar features such as fangs, red faces and bulging eyes to caricature real people, ethnic or religious groups. Commission or credit Javanese carvers and dalang rather than tracing museum puppets, many of which left Java under colonial rule. Do not sell printed or machine-cut copies as hand-carved tatah sungging, and never present a generated figure as a real wayang character.

01

How it works

  • Cut the figure as a flat silhouette that still reads as a shadow: head, legs and feet in profile (some giants and monkeys turn partly to the front, so that both eyes show), shoulders and chest turned to the front, a thin waist, and one or two arms jointed at shoulder and elbow, often long enough to reach the knee, worked by rods at the hands.
  • Perforate the inside with rows of tiny punched holes and chiselled filigree, so that crown, hair, jewellery and cloth are drawn in light when the figure stands before the lamp.
  • Paint both faces of the hide in bands of colour stepped from light to dark along the edge of each shape, add fine black lines and dots, and lay gold leaf (prada) on crowns, jewellery and the bodies of many figures.
  • Code the character instead of portraying a person, in four broad types: refined (alus) heroes with narrow downcast eyes, slender noses, slim bodies and feet set close together; strong (gagah) heroes such as Bima and Gatotkaca, larger, with round eyes, moustache and beard, an upright head and a wide stride; coarse (kasar) giants with round bulging eyes, bulbous noses, fangs, open mouths and bulk; and comic (gecul) servants, the panakawan Semar and his sons Gareng, Petruk and Bagong (Bagong was long left out of the Surakarta style), with deliberately unlovely bodies, such as short, fat, pug-nosed Semar and tall, gangling, long-nosed Petruk, dressed in sarongs. Lower the head for calm, restrained figures and raise it for bold ones, and treat face colour (black, white, gold, red) as part of the code, knowing it varies by character and court style.
  • Make several versions (wanda) of one character for different moods, such as Arjuna in love and Arjuna at war, rank the whole cast by size class, from giants down to princesses and infants, and stick it in that order into the banana trunks on either side of the screen (simpingan), so that two graded walls of figures frame the empty centre; the panakawan, ogresses, demons, monkeys, animals and weapons stay out of it.
  • Play the figures on the open screen between the simpingan, with no painted scenery, and let the gunungan, a tall, pointed leaf- or mountain-shaped figure packed with a tree of life, animals and a guarded gate, open and close the play, mark scene changes and stand for forest, mountain, palace or fire.

Central Java: the court styles of Surakarta and Yogyakarta, which grew apart after the Treaty of Giyanti divided Mataram in 1755, and the village workshops that carve and paint puppets for dalang (puppeteers). Javanese tradition credits the present puppet form to Sunan Kalijaga at Demak in the late 15th century, but East Javanese temple reliefs such as those of Candi Jago (13th–14th century) and Candi Sukuh (c. 1440) already show its frontal torsos, profile heads and limbs, knee-length arms and thin waists. The oldest known puppet collection was made by Stamford Raffles in early-19th-century Java. Cirebon, Balinese and Lombok wayang stand beside this entry rather than in it

02

Its design choices

From Stylogeny’s vocabulary of design choices: defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

Layout & composition
Space & hierarchy
Typography
Colour
Form & shape
Surface & texture
Ornament
Imagery
Medium & production
Tone & intent
Avoids
Naturalistic depiction, Illusion of depth, Straight photography, Ornament-free, Fluorescent & neon, All-over field, Full bleed

Palette

  • #efe2bf
  • #1d1a16
  • #c9a33b
  • #b3361f
  • #2f6e7a
  • #5b2f6e

Typefaces

  • Aksara Jawa (hanacaraka), the Javanese script of court manuscripts, whose illustrated narrative poems draw their figures in wayang style

  • Noto Sans Javanese (the Noto Javanese project, SIL Open Font License) for setting character names and captions in aksara Jawa

Known for

  • Kampung Wayang, Kepuhsari (Manyaran, Wonogiri, Central Java)

    a village of about 140 wayang craftspeople, where about 70 carvers at Sanggar Asto Kenyo Art cut buffalo-hide puppets today, to order for dalang such as the late Ki Manteb Sudharsono and for visitors from Indonesia and abroad

  • Gunungan (kayon) of wayang kulit purwa, before 1900 (Wereldmuseum Amsterdam TM-15-954-97)

    a tree of life full of flowers with a bird, possibly Garuda, at its top, two small temples and a pair of naga at its foot, and a lotus at the bottom centre

  • Raden Arjuna, buffalo-hide puppet from Surakarta, before 1940 (Wereldmuseum Amsterdam TM-1772-784), catalogued as the ideal of the refined, restrained Javanese man

  • Prabu Suyudana, eldest of the Korawa, early 20th century, opaque watercolour and gold paint on buffalo hide with horn rods, 97 cm high (National Gallery of Victoria, AS2-1972): a ruling prince with triple diadem and backwing (praba) whose bulbous nose betrays his demonic side

  • Arjuna, Java, 1900–1950, gilded, painted and perforated leather on a split bamboo support

    Science Museum Group, Kodak Collection, 1990-5036/7158

  • Two shadow puppets (wayang kulit), Java, late 19th–early 20th century, rawhide, horn and pigments including gold

    Metropolitan Museum of Art, 30.104.1 and 30.104.2, gift of A. Vecht, 1930

  • The Raffles collection at the British Museum

    about 350 pieces from early-19th-century Java, given by Raffles's family in 1859 and described as the oldest known collection, with the earliest datable shadow puppets

  • Four Australian stamps (2 × $1, 2 × $2, 16 October 2018, design Melinda Coombes) showing wayang kulit from the Pulu Cocos Museum, brought to the Cocos (Keeling) Islands by labourers from Java from the 1860s and played by the Cocos Malay community until its dalang Nek Ichang died in 1949

03

Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

Before it

The style it grew out of, and the styles it borrowed from.

Nothing earlier is recorded: in the atlas it is a starting point.

This styleJavanese Wayang Kulit (Tatah Sungging)1500–present · Southeast Asia

After it

The styles that grew out of it.

No later style in the atlas grew out of it yet.

Alike in its design choices

Styles that make many of the same choices, related or not, besides those above.

04

Sources

  1. UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, 'Wayang puppet theatre', proclaimed 2003, inscribed 2008 (https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/wayang-puppet-theatre-00063)
  2. Warli Haryana, Juju Masunah and Tri Karyono, 'Wanda Wayang Kulit Surakarta in Perspective Visual Communication Design', Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Arts and Design Education (ICADE 2021), Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research 665 (Atlantis Press, 2022), pp. 318–323 (https://www.atlantis-press.com/article/125975237.pdf): wanda as several versions of one character; liyepan (downcast) and thelengan (round) eyes; white, black and gold (prada) faces in the Surakarta style
  3. Tyas Purbasari, 'Kajian Aspek Teknis, Estetis, dan Simbolis Warna Wayang Kulit Karya Perajin Wayang Desa Tunahan Kabupaten Jepara', Arty: Journal of Visual Arts 1(1), 2012 (https://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/arty/article/download/312/361): figures seen from the side, some giants and monkeys partly frontal; buffalo hide, tatah, sungging and horn rods (cempurit); size classes and raised (longok) or lowered (luruh) heads; the size-ordered simpingan stuck into banana trunks, which leaves out the panakawan, ogresses, demons, monkeys, animals and weapons; the four character types halus, kasar, gagah and gecul (after Sunaryo 1996), with stance (jangkahan) and the number of movable arms as part of the code; panakawan in sarongs; stepped colour gradations from pale tints, prada, cawi lines and drenjeman dots; face colours and their limits
  4. Áron B. Laki, 'Peran Sunan Kalijaga terhadap Bentuk Wayang Kulit Jawa', Jurnal Kajian Seni 7(2), April 2021, pp. 123–141 (https://journal.ugm.ac.id/jks/article/download/59650/31127): the Kalijaga story and the earlier wayang-like reliefs of Candi Jago and Candi Sukuh
  5. Sutriyanto, 'Komparasi busana wayang kulit purwa gaya Keraton Yogyakarta dan gaya Keraton Surakarta: Kajian bentuk dan makna', MA thesis, Universitas Gadjah Mada, 2009 (https://etd.repository.ugm.ac.id/penelitian/detail/42408): the two court styles born of the Giyanti division; Yogyakarta's carving and prada, Surakarta's painting
  6. Humas Jateng, 'Unnes Kawinkan Dua Gagrak Wayang Kulit', Central Java Provincial Government, 30 March 2018 (https://jatengprov.go.id/publik/unnes-kawinkan-dua-gagrak-wayang-kulit/): Yogyakarta figures stouter, Surakarta figures taller
  7. National Gallery of Victoria, Asian education resource sheet 'Javanese art', on Prabu Suyudana (AS2-1972) (https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Sheet16_AsianEduRes_A4_sheets_DVD.pdf): profile faces, broad shoulders, long thin arms; alus and kasar types; tempera, gilding and horn rods
  8. Wereldmuseum Amsterdam (formerly Tropenmuseum), gunungan TM-15-954-97 and Raden Arjuna TM-1772-784, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Wajangfiguur_voorstellende_de_berg_Gunungan_TMnr_15-954-97.jpg; https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:COLLECTIE_TROPENMUSEUM_Wajangfiguur_van_buffelhuid_de_Javaanse_volksheld_Raden_Arjuna_voorstellend_TMnr_1772-784.jpg)
  9. Science Museum Group, 'Javanese shadow puppet of Arjuna', 1990-5036/7158 (https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8208759/javanese-shadow-puppet-of-arjuna)
  10. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 'Shadow Puppet (Wayang Kulit)', 30.104.1 and 30.104.2 (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/308010; https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/308011)
  11. Denise Heywood, 'Shadow Puppet Theatre in Southeast Asia', Asian Art Newspaper, 3 October 2016, on the British Museum exhibition (https://asianartnewspaper.com/shadow-puppet-theatre-in-indonesia-malaysia-and-thailand/)
  12. Dick van der Meij, 'Animals in Javanese manuscript illustrations', Wacana 23(1), 2022 (https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/wacana/vol23/iss1/5): illustrated narrative poems use the wayang style
  13. Wikipedia, 'Wayang kulit' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayang_kulit)
  14. Wikipedia, 'Gunungan' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunungan)
  15. Wikipedia, 'Batara Kala' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batara_Kala): ruwatan exorcism with a wayang performance
  16. Wikipedia, 'Treaty of Giyanti' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Giyanti)
  17. Noto Javanese font project (https://github.com/notofonts/javanese)
  18. Victoria and Albert Museum, shadow puppet IS.36:2-1881, Java, 1850–1880 (https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1501769/shadow-puppet): all the figures are perforated and painted in a similar way on both sides, and most are gilt
  19. Victoria and Albert Museum, Indonesian shadow puppet S.381-1999, late 19th–early 20th century (https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O35241/indonesian-shadow-puppet-shadow-puppet-unknown/): the dalang's shows are viewed from either side of the screen
  20. Ismurdyahwati, Setiawan Sabana, Primadi and Priyanto, 'Kajian Bahasa Rupa Berdasar Rekaman Video Pergelaran Wayang Kulit Purwa dalam Lakon Parta Krama', ITB Journal of Visual Art 1 D(3), 2007, pp. 364–390 (https://journals.itb.ac.id/index.php/jvad/article/view/672/391): simpingan figures set in rows on the left and right of the stage, stuck into the banana trunk and ordered by rank and physique; the rest kept in the box
  21. Wikipedia (Indonesian), 'Kelir' (https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelir): the screen divided into a centre under the blencong lamp and right and left simpingan, with extra open playing space on the left for the king's officials in court scenes, after K.P.A. Kusumadilaga (Kamajaya and Sudibyo Z. Hadi Sucipto, Sastramiruda, 1981)
  22. Wikipedia, 'Semar' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semar): said to be the god Sang Hyang Ismaya in human form, regarded by some as the most sacred figure of the wayang set; his sons Gareng, Petruk and Bagong, Bagong absent from Surakarta-style wayang
  23. Wikipedia, 'Punokawan' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punokawan): the clown servants of the hero, much loved by audiences; Semar short and fat with a pug nose, Petruk tall and gangling with a long nose
  24. Central Java Provincial Government, 'Melongok Kerajinan Wayang Kepuhsari Wonogiri', 20 February 2020 (https://jatengprov.go.id/beritaopd/melongok-kerajinan-wayang-kepuhsari-wonogiri)
  25. Australia Post, 'Cocos (Keeling) Islands Shadow Puppets' (https://collectables.auspost.com.au/stamp-issues/view-all-stamp-issues/cocos-keeling-islands-shadow-puppets)
  26. Roots (National Heritage Board, Singapore), Heri Dono, 'Wayang Puppets - The King (Raja Batak)', 1988, mixed media on cardboard, National Gallery Singapore 2003-02701 (https://www.roots.gov.sg/Collection-Landing/listing/1028914): his own epic, wayang legenda, first performed in 1988, with cardboard characters instead of leather

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