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Bornean Art: The Squatting Slave and Other Anthropomorphs

Human squatting figures were carved long ago in low relief on rock in the Central-Northern uplands and in the Northwestern corner. Small figures carved in the round in hardwood, like the Iban tuntun, feature helpful manlike or monkey spirits; larger ones carved by the Kenyah represent gods.

In stratified groups, particularly the Kenyah, full anthropomorphic figures - kalung kelunan - fall into two types:

• One depicts a slave as a sacrificial victim to the gods and, as such, is often painted on funeral monuments; as a status symbol, the slave motif appears on the baby carriers of aristocratic, slave-owning families.
• The other type, a plant-like, squatting or standing anthropomorph with profuse tendrils, a serene or smiling face, and limbs ending as dragons or hornbills, is sometimes depicted emerging from a jar; it represents the godhead, that is, the Tree of Life and is often found in beadwork and longhouse wall painting.

Mythical scenes painted on walls show anthropomorphic representations of the high god and dragon goddes standing on either sides of the Tree of Life. The slaves is sometimes depicted being devoured by dragons, as an offering to the underworld diety. The slave and god motifs are locally miced together, as among the Maloh.

In the Barito groups, the slave is often depicted in plaitwork. However, a human figure being devoured by a dragon, crocodile, or tiger refers to the initiation of the deceased to a new life by underworld or upperworld divinities, as may also be true of similar Iban motifs.

The human head and the godly face, abbreviations of, respectively, the full slave and god figures, are used in stratified societies by intermediate-status families. While the slave's head is sometimes shown being devoured by dragons, the serene, plant-like godly face, kalung ulu, is found figuring the Tree of Life. The torso, likely standing for the full human figure, is a common decorative pattern in plaitwork, where it has often been highly stylized. Head and headless bodies often appear in Iban textiles as trophies and fertility symbols. Elsewhere the head regularly stands for the body in representations of sacrifies to, and initiation by, the gods.

Bornean arts: The dragon and the underworld, The Tomb-Womb-Jar, The hornbill and the upperworld, The tree of life, The squatting slave and other anthropomorphs, The old tiger, The spirit ship, Plant and geometric motifs.