Islamic art from Southeast Asia: prominent or periphery? case study of pair of doors for royal compound (Lawon kori) dated from the sixteenth century from the Art Gallery of South Australia Asian Art Collection

Abstract

Central subject of this dissertation is the Pair of doors, Lawon kori, dated circa 1560, from the collection of Asian Art at the Gallery of South Australia. The Lawon kori was made in Lampung, a South Sumatra society that embraced Islam in the sixteenth century and so it could be regarded as an example of Islamic art of Southeast Asia. This object was selected for research in order to examine the development of early Islamic art in the region and its relationship to the wider world of Islamic aesthetics. The second part of the thesis is an analysis of the Lawon kori that may be described as among the most important sculptural objects of early Islamic art to survive from Southeast Asia. The visual language of the Lawon kori demonstrably emerges from its anonymous maker's understanding of Islamic belief, which had become interwoven with the local aesthetic traditions of the Lampung community. The work of art is a testament to the diversity of expression that existed within the unity of Islamic art as it developed in Southeast Asia.