A colossal reddish-brown terracotta piggy bank of squat and corpulent form, the face humorous and smiling, with a long curling tail and a bell and chain around his neck.

Eastern Javanese, Majapahit period.

15th century.

Length: 52 cm, 20 ˝ ins.

A long tradition of trade between China and Java culminated with the establishment of a trading colony in 1297. The Chinese were subsequently responsible for the first regular use of coins in Java, a practice that became widespread by the 15th century. During the 14th and 15th centuries, large numbers of terracotta rams, turtles, frogs and pigs were made, all provided with a slot in the back for the insertion of copper coins. Pigs were particularly popular because of their association with prosperity and were modelled with great care, usually wearing heavy necklaces and consisting of short, squat legs supporting great fat bodies. Elephants are rare. Javanese money-boxes were unlikely to have been owned by individuals and probably had a ritual function, attached to household or village shrines.