Java, Indonesia
Javanese

Bronze
Late 19th century
Length w/chain: 29 in; Width: 5 in
Idiophones – Struck Idiophones – Gongs

A beautiful and ornate slit gong known as a kentongan (pentongan) of the Javanese people of Indonesia.  It serves as a signaling instrument and ceremonial gong usually hung in a public hall and used to call people together for worship and meetings, to warn of danger / natural disasters, as well as to scare away evil spirits or demons. The hollow cavity resonates when even lightly tapped as the slit at the front emits the sound.

The mythical being is a Naga, a serpent or dragon creature from Hindu-Buddhist tradition, and a second Naga forms the terminal tip of the suspension hook.