Ceremonial bowl "kwam" · Papua New Guinea - Wosera · ID: 3038265
Ulrich Hoffmann, Stuttgart, Germany
Bruno Voges, Pliezhausen, Germany
Description
fired clay, red and yellow ochre, white and black pigment, one face modelled, two further ones marked by incised lines (“nggwal” or ancestral spirits), linear ornaments inbetween, collection number handwritten inside the receptacle: “78.11.58”;
“kwam” are important cult objects and ceremonial bowls. At a specific moment in male initiation ceremonies, the “kwam” is used to drink a specific “white soup” made of sago, coconut and yam. The “kwam” is also used in yam-harvest ceremonies, as well as in ceremonies related to the cult of the ancestors.
Proceeds will be given to the “Bürgerverein Altenhilfe e. V. Pliezhausen”
The object Ceremonial bowl “kwam” with the object ID 3038265 was last part of the auction 79th Tribal Art Auction at March 21, 2015 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 52 achieved a sales price of EUR 200.
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Comparing literature
Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. I, Köln 1995, p. 282, ill. 311