Born in Borneo

Johan Vipper

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"I love this sculpture for its energy," says Thomas Jaffe ’71 of this wooden carving from Borneo, a mythological composite of dragon, dog, and pig called an Aso. "It's absolutely alive!" The figure, about 28 inches high, is one of over 500 pieces of Southeast Asian tribal sculpture that Jaffe has agreed to lend to the Yale University Art Gallery on a rotating basis. Jaffe is also paying for the establishment of an Indo-Pacific art department at the gallery, with a full-time curator and its own exhibit space. Art historian Ruth Barnes of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford has been appointed curator of the collection.