Model of a gamelan
- Audio guide stop: 134
- Gallery: Room 1
- Audio guide: one commentary for a group of objects shown together
- Museum: The British Museum
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About these objects
This "Model of a Gamelan" is a group of beautifully made miniature musical instruments, all crafted in Java during the early 19th century. These pieces were part of a larger collection formed by Sir Stamford Raffles, a British statesman who collected cultural treasures during his time in Southeast Asia. The collection was passed down through his family and later donated to the Museum.
What unites this group is its representation of a traditional Javanese gamelan — an ensemble of instruments used for classical music, dance, and storytelling. Though only miniature versions of full-size instruments, each object here reflects careful craftsmanship and vivid red-and-gold paint, typical of Javanese decorative arts.
Look for the striking wooden stand carved with intertwining serpents and a central bird — it once held gongs and is a visual highlight of the display. Nearby, you'll see a painted wooden xylophone frame with gold details, known as a saron. Another noteworthy piece is a gong-stand painted in a similar rich style, showing the care taken in replicating full-size forms in miniature.
These pieces are not just models—they’re miniature instruments that once played music and now preserve a piece of Indonesia’s living heritage through their artistry and detail.
See it in person
Model of a gamelan is on display in Room 1 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and type its audio guide stop number, 134, from the gallery label, or take a photo of it, to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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