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The hinggi kombu is a magnificent ceremonial mantle woven on the island of Sumba in eastern Indonesia, part of the East Nusa Tenggara province. Sumba is renowned across the world for its…

The Sumbanese are the Indigenous inhabitants of Sumba, a rugged island lying south of Flores in the Lesser Sunda chain of eastern Indonesia. Now part of the East Nusa Tenggara province, the…

Few cultures have prized the horse as deeply as the Tibetans. Across the high plateaus of Tibet, where vast distances, thin air, and harsh terrain shaped daily life for centuries, horses were…

The Toraja are an Austronesian ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, with a population of approximately 1,100,000, of whom around 450,000 live in the regency of Tana…

The jipae is a ceremonial body mask created by the Asmat people, who inhabit the swampy lowlands and mangrove forests of southwestern Irian Jaya, the Indonesian half of the island of New…

The Asmat are an Indigenous people inhabiting the swampy lowlands of southwestern Papua, the Indonesian half of the island of New Guinea, formerly known as Irian Jaya. Numbering roughly seventy thousand today,…

Ganesha, also called Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is among the most universally beloved deities in the Hindu pantheon and one of the most easily recognized figures in world religion. Depicted with the…

A hand-carved reclining Ganesha in Riverstone from Mojokerto is a striking marriage of one of Asia’s most beloved deities with one of Indonesia’s oldest stone-carving traditions. Mojokerto Regency in East Java sits…

The figure popularly known as the Laughing Buddha originates not from the historical Buddha Shakyamuni, but from a beloved Chinese Buddhist monk named Budai, who lived during the Later Liang dynasty in…

Prajnaparamita is one of the most revered figures in Mahayana Buddhism, personifying the Perfection of Wisdom, the insight that pierces through illusion and reveals the true nature of reality. Her name combines…