
Part of the Natural history collection.

20th century, including CITES

_England, circa 1850-1870_ _H. 6 cm (front)_ _Diam. approx. 13 cm_ Possibly by Robert Phillips, apparently unmarked. A comparable piece can be found in The William and Judith Bollinger Gallery of the Victoria & Albert Museum (inv. no. M.10:1.2-2003).

These two winged sculptures represent the red monkey twins Sugriwa and Subali as they are called in Bali. Sugriwa and Subali are central characters in the Hindu epic ‘Ramayana’, particularly in the versions prevalent in Indonesian culture, such as in Balinese Hinduism. They are twin monkey kings of Kishkindha and brothers who become rivals. However, despite being identical twins, they had different fathers; Sugriwa’s father was Surya, the sun god, and Subali’s father was Indra, the king of gods.