Collection Number 149
Title Bouraq
Time 1950 Circa
Time Acquisition 1997
Place Bondowoso, East Java, Indonesia
Place of Acquisition Suryadi Antique Shop, Wonosari, Bondowoso, East Java, Indonesia
Name Painter (Place and Year of Birth-Death) Unknown
Size 44cm x 35cm
Category (Sub-Category) Islam (Bouraq)
Current Location Vietnam Museum of Ethnology (VME) Permanent Exhibition “Indonesian Glass Paintings: The Collection of O‘ong Maryono and Rosalia Sciortino” Link: http://www.vme.org.vn/permanent-exhibitions/ tranh-kinh-indonesia-en-us/
Description The Bouraq is a flying creature with an animal body and a human head, which is told to have carried the Prophet Mohamed from the Mecca to Jerusalem in the night to meet Jesus and Moses before returning to the Mecca and then to heaven during the episode known as Isra and Miraj (meaning respectively in Arab ‘night-time journey’ and ‘ascension’. A common motif in East Java, glass paintings with Buraq in Madura and among migrant Madurese communities are often used to protect from evil. Similar paintings can also be found in other parts of Java and Arab countries.