Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 15. (Budapest, 1995)
RENNER Zsuzsanna: R. M. Soelaeman Pringgodigdo, a műgyűjtő diplomata emlékére
foreign museums and private collections, although other antiquities and ethnographical objects were still available in abundance. In the next one to one-and-a-half decades, however, as a result of the rapid absorption of tribal cultures by the surrounding society and the final disappearance of the last last remnants of Muslim eourt culture, most of the ritual and other objects associated with these ceased to be produced; parallel to this, Western demand for the same objects began to increase rapidly. On account of these two trends, such objects soon became ever more rare and difficult to come by. This process was somewhat compensated in the 1970s by the ban on the export of art objects from Indonesia, since this measure not only called attention to the value of certain types of objects, but also set a fashion among Javanese rich, many of whom started collecting at this time. When he acquired the first items in his collection, R. M. Soelaeman Pringgodigdo, by his own account, did not know much about these objects. Whether by a stroke of luck or by intuition we do not know, but his first acquisition a neglected, dust-covered wooden object discovered in the comer of a shop selling sports equipments - later proved to be a rare 18th century Javanese sculpture and has remained one of the most valuable objects of his collection ever since. And while his passion for collecting urged him to acquire more and more objects, he became increasingly involved with the study of their historical and cultural background, partly because of his general interest in the subject and partly because he wanted to collect exact information on which to base his purchases. Over the years, he acquired a wide knowledge, particularly on Javanese culture, and he became an expert of the art of Cirebon. He was also an active member of clubs and societies (Javanese Culture Group, Mitra Budaya), founded in the 1960s with the aim of exploring the lesser known aspects of Javanese culture. In the book published by the Mitra Budaya Society on the varied but littleknown culture of Cirebon 3 , he contributed the chapters on wayang topeng and glass paintings. For R. M. Soelaeman Pringgodigdo collecting was certainly not a means of accumulating or increasing wealth, but rather a way of living a more fulfilled life and a source of joy that he always wanted to share. He purchased objects for their beauty, without a view to filling the occasional gaps in his collection. For the same reason he was no systematic collector: he made no efforts to establish a collection that was complete in all respects. He found objects by chance or selected from among those offered to him. Nevertheless, his collection, which grew to several hundred items over the decades, eventually represented almost every important region and phase of Indonesian art by means oi the types of objects characteristic of these, il only through one single item in certain cases The only important exception was stone sculpture; its absence from the collection might be ai least partly due to transportation difficulties since Soelaeman Pringgodigdo liked to have his favourite pieces around him, which meant several hundreds objects. His collection accom panied him to his posts in Europe and overseas and suffered climatic and storage conditions which were sometimes quite unfavourable, a least from the point of view of the museun curator. This was, however, not a sign of neglect on the part of the owner, but further evi dence that for him art objects were not simpl) valuable things to be protected but rather part; of his life. His attitude to "antiquities" was no doubt in fluenced by his family background and educ ation. On his mother's side, he descended fron a princely family of Cirebon, while in the pa tcrnal line, his ancestors held high positions it Tuban (East Java), where his grandfather wa appointed governor by the Dutch colonial go vernment. Thus, his childhood was spent in th< atmosphere of Javanese Muslim court cultun and he grew up surrounded by krises, wayanj figures and the instruments of the gamelai orchestra. Being the youngest of several broth ers, however, he did not inherit any of thesi family possessions. Later on, when as a collec tor he acquired the objects characteristic o Javanese court culture, he turned to them a though they were his own family inheritance symbols of a bygone lifestyle and social status
