Flores (Indonesian style)

Refers to the style associated with the Flores region in Indonesia. The style features shell and bone carvings, elaborate beadwork, and gilded, gem-encrusted jewelry. The style also incorporates non-indigenous materials such as glass and coral beads into native designs. Head and neck ornaments were often cast in the lost-wax method and depicted motifs of buffalo heads and horns. Monumental sculpture in this style is heavily influenced by religion and features sacrificial altars and sacred megalith structures as well as menhirs, dolmens, and terraced burial mounds. With the introduction of Hinduism and Buddhism, monumental sculpture developed into symbols of Buddha and Shiva. In sculpture, the style reveals a strong wood-carving tradition in which the representation of a mythical dragon-serpent exists as a dominant ornamental and protective symbol.