Saturday, December 18, 2010

The Silversmith Town of Kota Gede

The first place that we visited in our excursion to Yogyakarta was the silversmith town of Kota Gede.

Kota Gede is the old capital of the Javanese Sultanate of Mataram and is said to be the largest silver handicraft center in Indonesia. Beautiful silver jewellery and handicrafts with intricate Javanese and other ethnic designs can be found here.



In the workshop located adjecent to one of the shops, we saw this woman silversmith working on a floral-design silver jewelery.



They even made this sailing ship made entirely from silver.



The facade of one of the shops. It's an old Javanese royal family house with intricate ethnic decorative style and a pair of dragons guarding its roof and gate. There are even some replicas of the sultanate guards at the door way (see photos below)



5 comments:

Photo Cache said...

tremendous craftsmanship. i would love to spend a lot of time in their showroom.

Catherine said...

I like to look at her face so concentrated on her work. Certainly at the same time an artisan and an artist ! I imagine so much precision working on a so little piece of silver leaf.

Wonderful facade, Eki, one can't help but enter in.....

(concerning the temperature in Paris. No, Eki it's around 0°C. The -30°C writting on the windscreen is just a joke of a practical joker !)

Dina said...

What a wonder-full place.
That ship is other-worldly, like a ghost ship! Gorgeous.
I admire the patience and skill and care of the lady at her work.

Jeannette StG said...

Very interesting post, Eki! The silver ship is stunning!You mentioned "one of the royal families"...was each island reigned by a royal family?
Have a very merry Christmas!

arabesque said...

i certainly love its artistry and very gr8 craftsmanship. ^0^

i hope they'll try to preserve this kind of art.

Merry christmas eki! ^0^