Indonesian Palelintangan or Astrological Calendar, Framed

Figures, beasts and blue water in tidy rows, which is more than the heavens usually manage.

Palelintangan, the painted astrological calendars of Bali, set out the island's complex cycles of time as a chart of images, long used to help choose favorable days. This one is pigment on cotton, from Bali, Indonesia, late 19th or early 20th century, framed. Rows of arched compartments hold seated figures, animals and little houses, several washed with bands of blue. The palette runs to ochre, rust and pale cream, and the cloth's edges are uneven. A patterned wood frame with a gilt inner edge surrounds it. Eighty-one inches wide and 67 high.

The stars, it turns out, kept excellent records.