Stone tools and statues have been made by Indonesian civilizations since prehistoric times. The gradual sophistication of these objects and tools used to create them are indicative of cultural progress.

The Museum Nasional has a wealth of stone statues in many different forms and sizes, most notably relating to ancestral worship, Hindu gods and goddesses, kings and animals. The statues were usually put in temple alcoves or in the temple's main room (cella), and the majority of them were discovered in Central Java and Sumatra. Volcanic andesite was most commonly used but many of the East Javanese statues made during the 14th and 15th centuries, were sculpted from sandstone or limestone.

As a result of the Hindu-Buddhist influence that was prevalent in Indonesia between the 4th and the 10th centuries, statues created during this period were very similar to those made in East India. Sculptors (silpin). In India had to follow precise rules stated in the Silpasastra book; for example, eyes had to be shaped like lotus (padma) leaves, eyebrows like an archer's bow and arms like an elephants trunk.
While these features were copied in Indonesia, the Silpasastra rules were generally not strictly adhered to, and after this period, especially during the Majapahit era (14th and 15th centuries ), statues made throughout the archipelago exuded a more 'Indonesian' style. In the Museum Nasional, Stone Sculpture Collections is included into the Archaeology Section.

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