P-ISSN: 2827-9832

E-ISSN: 2828-335x

http://ijsr.internationaljournallabs.com/index.php/ijsr

988

APPLICATION OF INCUNG KERINCI SCRIPT ON METAL MEDIA

Yosan Novendra

Faculty of Fine Arts and Design, Institut Seni Indonesia Padangpanjang

yosarnovendra@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Incung script is a script that belongs to the Malay type. This type of script is commonly referred to as

kaganga. that is a script that was born and developed in the upper reaches of rivers in the interior. The

Incung script is used after the pallawa script. The Incung Kerinci script itself is formed by straight, broken

lines, and curved Incung Kerinci script is a relic of ancient Kerinci ancestors. Incung Kerinci was used by

Kerinci's ancestors to document history, literature, customary law, and mantras. The concept of creating this

work departs from the Incung Kerinci script as a writing medium on metal works. The theoretical

foundations used as guidelines in the embodiment of this work use the theoretical foundations of form,

function, and aesthetics. This method of creating works uses three stages, ranging from exploration, design,

and embodiment. The materials used in making this work are iron plates, copper plates, brass plates, and oil

paints. The techniques used are welding, inlay, and scroll techniques. The shape of this work is three-

dimensional and two-dimensional in the form of seven works, this work has a practical function, namely

decorative lights, decorative clocks, and two display works with the application of the Incung Kerinci script

with metal media.

Keywords: Incung Kerinci Script, Metal Crafts, Kaganga

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

INTRODUCTION

Alam Kerinci is part of the 'Alam Melayu' whose territory is located in the middle of the

island of Sumatra. One of the legacies of past civilizations found in Kerinci is the Incung

Kerinci Script. In Sumatra, there are several places of distribution of traditional scripts namely

Batak, Rejang, Pasamah, and Kerinci. This is evidenced by the existence of ancient

manuscripts that are hundreds of years old that are still preserved today (Colombijn, 2010).

A script that belongs to the Malay type. This type of script is commonly referred to as

kaganga. The kaganga script is also better known as the ulu script, which is a script that was

born and developed in the upper reaches of rivers in the interior. Kaganga is another name for

the Incung Kerinci script (Zakaria & Syaputra, 2017)

From the content of the manuscript, it is expressed that the word incung means Incung

script. Most likely, the word Incung is based on the shape of the script with the author's graphic

tilt. Linguistically, the Incung Kerinci script means italic or terpancung (from the Kerinci

language). The Incung Kerinci script itself is formed by straight, broken lines, and curved

Incung Kerinci script is a relic of ancient Kerinci ancestors. This Incung Kerinci was used by

Kerinci's ancestors to document history, literature, correspondence, customary law, and

mantras. This is because, the word italics in the local dialect of Kerinci is called Incung or

rencong which means not straight or oblique (Zakaria & Syaputra, 2017).

In Kerinci there is an ancient manuscript that uses the script Incung (Helida et al., 2015).

This ancient manuscript was used by the Kerinci tribe as a vehicle for writing literature,

customary laws, and mantras written on bark, buffalo horns, cow horns, elephant footprints,

lontar leaves, and bamboo. The inscriptions written on the bark and horns of buffaloes are

Application of Incung Kerinci Script on Metal Media

989 2, 3., February 2023

estimated to be much older than most Incung writings found on bamboo slabs, lontar leaves

and paper.

The oldest writing is the Tanjung Tanah manuscript dating from the 14th century AD,

written on bark, with script and post-palawa (Kozok, 2006), namely the

Adityawarman/Majapahit era. It is also believed by Voorhoeve written in Sangskrit in the

opening and closing parts, and Kerinci Malay in the content section. Incung is one of the

Nusantara scripts known as surat or sulat. It is estimated that in Kerinci there are still about

100 manuscripts with Incung letters (Nofrial, 2016: 26).

The Incung Kerinci script began to be widely used in the 4th century AD (Hidayat, 2021).

At first, aksara Incung Kerinci was written with a kind of pointed object whose strokes were

similar to the nails of the ancient Babylonian script. Kerinci not only has the Incung script that

ancestors created centuries ago but also the pallawa script in the oldest Malay law book in the

world which is written on daluang leaves in Tanjung Tanah village. The script is a system of

graphic signs that humans use to communicate and more or less represents speech and a

particular type of graphic sign system; e.g. pallawa script.

The Incung script was used after the palawa script introduced by the Sumatran Malays.

The writing of the Incung Kerinci script is evidenced by the discovery of several ancient

manuscripts written in the ancient Kerinci language. The writing of Aksara Incung Kerinci is

also enshrined in various media such as horns, reed segments, bones, bark, and telapak kaki

gajah. It's just that, in the manuscript, there are no number clues for numbers. It can be

concluded that perhaps the Incung Kerinci script does not recognize the number or number

script so neither the dating nor the date of writing it is found (Uli Kozok, 2006: 41).

The birth of the Incung Kerinci script in the ancient Kerinci society may be based on the

idea of the importance of documenting various life, social and historical events in the form of

written works (Tamasa & Tamasa, n.d.). The historical evidence of the Incung Kerinci script

is found in the ancient manuscripts of Kerinci. On bamboo two segments with the script Incung

Kerinci. (Iskandar and Deki, 2017: 7).

In this case, the interest of the craftsman in applying aksara Incung Kerinci as a work of

metal craft art is because aksara Incung Kerinci is interesting and some of the letters are

italicized and one of them is the oldest script, and it is interesting to be used as a metal craft

artwork. In addition, the craftsman wants to introduce to the wider community, especially the

Kerinci community to aksara Incung Kerinci which has been almost forgotten.

The craftsman was very interested in making this Incung Kerinci script a creation idea

because of the interesting form of writing to apply to metal crafts. The work created is a three-

dimensional work, the first in the form of three decorative lights and several two-dimensional

works consisting of two decorative clocks, and two wall decorations as decorating elements in

a room.

METHOD

The method used in this study is Literature Review, and the data is collected from various

literature such as journals, books, and various relevant documents.

Application of Incung Kerinci Script on Metal Media

990 2, 3., February 2023

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The concept of creation

Concepts are the first subject that underlies the whole thought. Concepts usually exist only

in the mind or are sometimes briefly written. Concepts are very meaningful in a work of art,

can be born before, simultaneously, or after the work of a work of art.

In this Final Project Role, the author raised the form of the Incung Kerinci script and the

form of its writing media in the past as a functional object, by applying the Incung Kerinci

script which is inscribed with meaning, Incung script writing on metal crafts.

The embodiment of the work, using welding, inlay, press and scroll carving techniques,

the materials used are iron plates, iron bars, brass plates and copper plates. The embodiment of

this work, the creator applied the writing of the Incung Kerinci script on metal media in the

form of copper plates and iron plates worked on with inlay, welding and scroll techniques.

Finishing in this work begins with the process of putty, sanding, base paint, gilding on copper

plates and staining on iron plates and iron bars, the last stage is the glassier process using clear

doff. In addition, works in the form of panels, decorative lights and decorative clocks are

finished using chemicals such as braso.

The purpose of creating this work is to realize ideas in the form of Incung Kerinci script

on metal crafts so that they can pour new ideas and can produce beautiful work. In addition,

this work has the benefit of increasing creativity in work by continuing to create new designs,

especially in metal craft artwork.

Study of Sources of Creation

Incung Kerinci script is a Kerinci script which means italic or like a beheader. The

existence of ancient manuscripts inscribed with Incung script is based on the idea of

documenting important events in society such as history and writing. This is evidenced by the

discovery of the Incung script for writing literature, customary law, and mantras, which are

written on bark, horns, lontar leaves, reed segments, paper, and paper. According to Djakfar &

Indra (2001) that,

The existence of the Incung script which is almost evenly found in the Kerinci area shows

that the literature of writing at that time was already advanced compared to the surrounding

area. Before the entry of Islam into Kerinci in this area, there have been many manuscripts in

the form of historical records in the Incung script, while in the Minangkabau area, there are no

written manuscripts as in Kerinci. In addition, Kerinci has different characters and

characteristics from the Renjang, Batak, Lampung, and other characters.

In the Kerinci area, it was previously applied to historical relics, such as buffalo horns,

and bamboo segments, it can also be applied to metal craft media or other media. To realize

artistic creativity, the craftsman raised the form of Incung Kerinci script which was applied to

metal media.

Application of Incung Kerinci Script on Metal Media

991 2, 3., February 2023

Draw 1

Incung Kerinci script writing

Source: Khazanah aksara Incung

(Iskandar and Deki, 2017: 3)

Foundations of Creation

Artwork is born essentially moving away from social reality. Personal experiences that

occur on a day-to-day basis both consciously and unconsciously can be ideas in creation.

Many people are unaware of this, due to lack of concern and sensitivity to the environment.

A person an academic artist must be sensitive to such circumstances.

A work of art has the power to convey the message of life, which is commonly stored

behind its physical form. It has been stated, a living work of art is a work of art that has the

power of dialogue with its connoisseurs, can evoke communication, can tell the story of the

vision and mission it develops, really the dialogue is communication between the craftsman

and the connoisseur.

In the process of creating artworks with the theme of applying the Incung Kerinci script

to metal crafts, the craftsman is based on a strong desire to create artworks that have beauty

value and contain a message that will be conveyed through the work. In order to realize the

idea into the work, several theories are used, including:

a. Bentuk

Form as a physical form of a work of art, Form is the first thing that the observer observes

and responds to. Through form, it will be possible to know the material, media, ideas,

concepts, contents and aesthetic values created in a craft artwork. Basically what is meant by

form.

Basically what is meant by form is the totality rather than the work of art. That form is an

organization or a single entity or composition of the supporting elements of the work. that is,

the physical form and a work of art or the unity of the supporting elements of the artwork. The

form created due to the reciprocal relationship between the values emitted by the phenomenon

of its physical form to the response of its emotional consciousness, Darsono (2004: 30) states:

Application of Incung Kerinci Script on Metal Media

992 2, 3., February 2023

The physical form of a work can be interpreted as a conscription of the subjeck matter

and the form of a work is an arrangement of the impressions of the response. The result of an

organized response and the power of the imagination process of a passion will occur then there

will be a weight of the work or the meaning of the content of a work of art or also called

meaning.

The above expression can be understood that, works have been created that are decorative

lamps, decorative clocks and works of art. Form is the organization of a single unit or

composition of the supporting elements of the work, the medium as a form of art, so that the

work that is born can be understood and enjoyed. The work created is in the form of 2

dimensions or 3 dimensions.

b. Function

Function or function (English) is related to the usefulness of something. As with art with

its results as Feldman explains Gustami's translation (1990: 2), that:

Our individual needs of personal expression, our social needs for display purposes,

celebration and communication, our physical needs of useful goods.

From the description above, it can be seen that the workman embodies functional and

nonfunctional works in the form of sitting lamps, wall clocks and works of art. The work to

be realized is a non-functional and functional work that conveys to the community which is

interpreted into the Incung Kerinci script or as a message or proverb, so that it has its own

satisfaction value for the worker.

In creating new works of function objects and decorations, how can this work be useful

for beautifying, beautifying and decorating according to its function and placement, such as

decorative lights, decorative clocks, and works of art that are very useful for yourself and

others.

c. Aesthetic

The term and notion of beauty has no place in aesthetics because it is textual to refer to

things, loose to contain various characteristics and also subjective to express a personal

assessment of something that happens to be pleasant. One can call a series of very colorful

flowers a beautiful thing and a quiet and beautiful natural landscape. One can also judge the

beauty of a sculpture whose shapes, a song whose notes are in harmony or a rhyme whose

content is evocative. Dharsono (2004: 11) states.

Because its value is pure, then when it is beauty, it is said to be pure beauty. This pure

aesthetic value is found in lines, shapes, colors in fine art.

From the description above, it can be known that the work created will be useful for pure,

beautiful and aesthetic needs. A work of art created aims to fulfill aesthetics and beauty, to

satisfy oneself as well as the crowd.

This work has aesthetic value, which can be seen from the elements of appearance such

as lines, planes, colors, textures and spaces, which become unity in a work of art. These

elements become a structure that is built and arranged properly and correctly in a work of art

based on principles (rhythm, gradation, and contrast), as well as according to the principles of

arrangement (harmony, harmony, and proposi). The artwork that is born produces the

impression of aesthetic value found in the Incung Kerinci script.

Application of Incung Kerinci Script on Metal Media

993 2, 3., February 2023

From this, it can also be seen from the value of complexity or difficulty in works that

contain differences between one work and another, difficulties when causing copper plates

and when welding iron or cutting iron plates.

It can be seen from a certain work of the quality that stands out in the work. For example,

beauty, soft, rough, and smooth. This quality can be seen in the artwork that is born, this is

what distinguishes between a perfunctory work and a work made with sincerity will certainly

have a different result, because it is from this sincerity that observers and connoisseurs can

feel that the artwork wants to have beauty can also be seen from the perfection of the work

cultivation.

Method Creation

The birth of a work of art is certainly not born out of thin air, but is subjected to a

systematic process by the worker. The process of creating craft art can be done intuitively, but

it can also be pursued through a carefully planned, analytical, and systematic scientific

method. In the methodological context, there are three stages of the creation of craft art,

namely exploration, design, and embodiment (Gustami, 2004).

The process of creating a work must be carefully planned in order to produce a quality

work of art. The stages that must be done include:

Exploration

Exploration is the first steps in an effort to realize work that includes the processes,

principles, and procedures used to face and solve problems. These steps include extracting

sources of creation both directly in the field and collecting reference data on writings and

images related to the work. In addition, visual reference data collection will also be carried

out as a catalog that approaches the basic concept of creation. Then proceed with data

processing and analysis to solve problems theoretically, which is used later as the design stage

(Gustami 2007: 330).

Design

The design is built on the acquisition of important items from the formulated analysis,

continued visualization of ideas in the form of alternative sketches, then the choice of the best

sketch is determined as a reference for design or with technical drawings that are useful for

its embodiment, so that the design stage is arranged in a structured and systematic manner

(Gustami 2007: 331)

Application of Incung Kerinci Script on Metal Media

994 2, 3., February 2023

Review of the work

(Photo: Yosan Novendra, 2019)

Title : kappa

Material: Iron plate and iron rod

Technique : Welding and scrolling

Color: Brown and black

Created by : Yosan Novendra

The work entitled kappa for 2019, size 100x80 cm. This work is created with welding and

scroll techniques. It serves as a sitting lamp, the material used is iron plate, lamp, wood as a

foundation, and concrete iron. In this work, there is a boat shape inscribed with incung script

from various sides and various other supporting objects such as boats, so it has an estestis value.

Finishing this work uses brown and black. The color of the adhesion to the work that aims

to take the shape of the ship's color ends with a clear doff so that the work looks attractive and

has aesthetic value.

This work tells about the cultural journey or cultural spread of the Kerinci incung script by

using a ship or sailing in the past. In this work, there is an inscription of Incung script in the

boat section with the meaning kincai sahalun suhak salatuh bdei or kerinci sealun suhak selatus

bedil, a traditional proverb that reflects the cohesiveness and unity of the Kerinci people.

CONCLUSION

Incung Kerinci script The Incung Kerinci script is an ancient writing found in the Kerinci

area and is a cultural relic that has historical value. In this case, the creator made the Incung

Kerinci script and its writing media as the main idea in giving birth to a work of art entitled

''application of the Incung Kerinci script to metal media''.

Application of Incung Kerinci Script on Metal Media

995 2, 3., February 2023

The Incung Kerinci script is attached to metal works, at the stage of application the work

takes the form of the Incung Kerinci script and its writing media used to be such as horns, bark,

bamboo and paper. The writing medium is composed with meaningful reading. Realizing the

Incung Kerinci script on metal works with welding, inlay, press carving and scroll techniques

then the final finishing uses clear doff so that the colors look more aesthetically pleasing.

The seven works applied to metal works use the Incung Kerinci script and as a medium for

writing metal works. The first work titled ''kapa'' the craftsman applied the shape of a ship

inscribed with the Incung Kerinci script, with the welding and scroll technique and was brown,

the second work entitled "manya and tandauk" the craftsman applied the shape of bamboo and

horns inscribed with the Incung Kerinci script, with the welding and scroll technique and

was black and yellow, the third work titled '' cinak blando mintak tanah'' the craftsman applied

the shape of the horns inscribed with the Incung Kerinci script, with welding and scroll

techniques and colored brown and black, the fourth work titled ''dunio maso lalau'' the

craftsman applied the shape of bamboo and horns inscribed with Incung Kerinci script, with

welding and inlay techniques and yellow and black, the fifth work title '' kato ptang dak until

morning kato pagi dak till ptang'' the worker applies the shape of the horn inscribed with the

Incung Kerinci script, with the technique of welding and inlay and is black and gray, the sixth

work is titled ''Looking at'' the worker applies the shape of the horn written in the Incung

Kerinci script, with the technique of welding and inlay and is brown and black, the seventh

work ''Media'' the worker applies the shape of the horn , bark and paper inscribed with Incung

Kerinci script, with inlay techniques and colored black and copper.

REFERENCES

Colombijn, F. (2010). VU Research Portal. Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land-En Volkenkunde,

166(1), 107–183.

Djakfar, I., & Indra, I. (2001). Menguak tabir Prasejarah di Alam Kerinci. Sungai Penuh:

Pemerintah Kabupaten Kerinci.

Gustami, S. P. (2004). Proses Penciptaan Seni Kriya: Untaian Metodologis. Program

Pascasarjana S2 Penciptaan Dan Pengkajian Seni ISI Yogyakarta.

Helida, A., Zuhud, E. A. M., Hardjanto, H., Purwanto, P., & Hikmat, A. (2015). The

ethnography of Kerinci. KOMUNITAS: International Journal of Indonesian Society and

Culture, 7(2), 283–296.

Hidayat, A. (2021). Revitalization of ancient Indonesian characters and the maintenance efforts

in past 10 years. LADU: Journal of Languages and Education, 1(4), 179–186.

Kartika, Dharsono Sony, 2004, Pengatar Estetika, Bandung, Rekayasa Sains

Kozok, U. (2006). Kitab Undang-Undang Tanjung Tanah. Naskah Melayu Yang Tertua.

Jakarta: Yayasan Naskah Nusantara DanYayasan Obor Indonesia.

Mubarat, Husni 2010, ‘’Aksara Incung Kerinci Sebagai Sumber Penciptaan Seni Kriya’’

Laporan Tugas Akhir Karya Seni, Pasca Sarjana ISI Padangpanjang

Nofrial, 2016, Rumah Etnik Kerinci, Arsitektur dan Seni Ukir, Institut Seni Indonesia

Padangpanjang.

Sachari, Agus. 2002, Estetik, Penerbit ITB: Bandung.

Tamasa, S. J., & Tamasa, K. J. (n.d.). Asian and African studies blog.

Yuliani, 2017, Aksara Incung Pada Kain Panjang” Laporan Tugas Akhir Prodi Kriya Seni.

FSRD, ISI Padangpanjang

Zakaria, I., & Syaputra, D. (2017). Khazanah Aksara Incung. Sungaipenuh: Dinas Kebudayaan

Dan Pariwisata Kota Sungaipenuh.

Application of Incung Kerinci Script on Metal Media

996 2, 3., February 2023

Zakaria Iskadar, Tambo Sakti Alam Kerinci 2. (materi kebudayaan)