Male and Female ancestral figures

Most Balinese sculpture is of stone or wood; bronze sculptures like these are uncommon. The purpose of these figures is not entirely certain. It seems likely, though, that they represented deceased ancestors and were used in a funeral or memorial ritual.

The people of Bali embraced a form of Hinduism more than a thousand years ago. However, they adapted it by mixing in local beliefs in which reverence for ancestors had an important part. The Balinese have maintained this sort of Hinduism to the present, while most of the rest of Indonesia, over many centuries, has converted to Islam.