Ancestor figure "hazi nuwu" ·  Indonesia - Nias · ID: 3039921

Description

wood, blackish brown patina, staff-like armless figure with disc-shaped headgear, a bamboo tube fastened to the body, slightly dam., rudiment of right arm missing, slightly dam. (headgear), abrasion of paint;
originally belonging to an ancestral altar. The bamboo tubes were filled with tiny palmwood sticks “famaso”, which served as a place for the spirit of the dead to enter the image.

The object Ancestor figure “hazi nuwu” with the object ID 3039921 was last part of the auction 82nd Tribal Art Auction at February 27, 2016 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 13 achieved a sales price of EUR 450.

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Comparing literature

Nias, Tribal Treasures, Cosmic reflections in stone, wood and gold, Delft 1990, p. 221, ill. 63 b