Ornaments and Woodcarving Design of Traditional Malay Houses: Comparative Study of Rumah Limas Johor in Tangkak, Muar, Batu Pahat, and Pontian
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Abstract
Ornaments and woodcarving are decorative elements widely used in traditional Malay houses, including Rumah Limas Johor. In Johor, four districts still have their Rumah Limas, particularly in Muar, Tangkak, Batu Pahat, and Pontian. The decorative elements among these four districts may look quite similar, but they essentially have very compelling and unique differences. These uniqueness’s are each district’s identity, and each of these identities would have gone unnoticed and disregarded if it had not been documented, analysed, and revealed. Fifty houses of Rumah Limas Johor are set to be the case study to be visited, examined, photographed, and analysed. Data collection and interviews were done and discussions were conducted with local woodcarvers for verifications. The study revealed that all four districts have some similarities but also have dominant and outstanding differences, especially in woodcarving typology, motifs chosen, and also additional ornaments, even though they are all in the same state. The finding also shows that the most prominent uniqueness is in the kepala tingkap (window transom), where each district has many houses that have similar and distinguish design compositions and materials among other houses within the district, yet all four districts’ design compositions are remarkably different from each other, which makes it dominant to each district, which we may see it as their own identity. This study also contributes the term of “rapat bertaut” where a piece of jerjak tingkap (window grille) panel uses a pattern that is beautiful standing alone but becomes even more beautiful when it meets and sandwiched closely with other panels with the same pattern design.
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