This is a pair of silver earrings for Batak women. They are shaped like inverted flowers with slightly curved petals, with tiny spangles, called ‘pilo-pilo’, at the bottom. These pilo-pilo are supposed to bring good luck. And these earrings were mostly worn by women of fine birth, or women from an elite community. Jewellery has many different functions in island Southeast Asia, for example it was used to indicate social positions, to symbolise the importance of the social relationship between the giver and the receiver during gift exchanges, and to serve as miniature religious objects.
