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  • Title: Kai Ne’e Natam Kor Kase (Diamond & Bird)
  • Artist: Robert Koroh
  • Region: Amarasi, West Timor
  • Art Centre: Sanggar Uim Nima
  • Medium: Copper Engraving
  • Collection: Ta Teut Amarasi
  • Dimensions: 17 x 17 cm
  • Edition Size: 20
  • Price ($AUD): $ 195.00

Artwork Story

KAI NE’E NATAM KOR KASE features six hooks (which appear as 12 hooks which is a mirror image of six hooks). Inside these hooks is a bird, known as the Kor Kase. The Kor Kase motif depicts the first bird to visit Amarasi. Birds are often revered in Timorese origin narratives as the talismans that directed founders to the site of their settlement. The ruler’s family name ‘Koroh’ is also the Dawan word for bird whilst the word ‘kase’ refers to a visitor. Birds are also attributed with the ability to guide the souls of deceased people from the mundane world to the upper world where they will be united with the ancestors. The Kor Kase motif was traditionally worn as an aristocratic motif worn by the Raja. The ‘kase’ terminology was applied to the Portuguese who were referred to by the people of Amarasi as ‘kase hitam’ (black visitors) whilst the Dutch were known as ‘kase putih’ (white visitors).

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