Zemanek-Münster

Ceremonial bowl "kwam"

Papua New Guinea - Wosera
sold EUR 200
Provenance
Missionsmuseum St. Augustin, Bonn, Germany, Inventory Nr.: 78.11.58
Ulrich Hoffmann, Stuttgart, Germany
Bruno Voges, Pliezhausen, Germany
Size
D: 16 cm
H: 12,5 cm
D: 6.3 inch
H: 4.9 inch

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”


Comparing literature

Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. I, Köln 1995, p. 282, ill. 311

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