Ancestor figure "adu zatua · Indonesia - Nias · ID: 3047223
sold
EUR 3,200
Provenance
Waldemar Stöhr & Elisabeth Stöhr-Johannsen, Cologne, Germany (coll. in situ)Klefisch, Cologne, 11. Oktober 2013, Lot 110
European Private Collection
Size
H: 23,3 cm
H: 9.2 inch
Description
wood, base
This figure wears a palm leaf crown and long earrings “sialu”, as they were typically worn by women.
These smaller “adu zatua” - figures were lashed to horizontal supporting bars, which were fixed to the wall in the main room of the house. Whenever a member of the family died, a new image was added, so that rows of figures were created. On the anniversary of the death of each of them, offerings were made to the deceased.
Comparing literature
Feldman, Jerome, The eloquent dead, Los Angeles 1985, p. 51, ill. 21