Big male ritual figure ·  Papua New Guinea, Abelam · ID: 3035564

Description

wood, painted in the traditional colours (red and yellow ochre, white and black), the arms close to the body, painted bracelets of trochus shell “duamal”, crowned by a hornbill, the neck carved with “wings”, dam., minor missing parts, strong abrasion of paint, rep. (upper half of the beak), socle;
presumably depicting a male ancestor, the hornbill representing a clan emblem, head-hunting and ancestral symbol.