Ceremonial staff "temes nevinbür" ·  Vanuatu · ID: 3033038

Description

anthropomorphic head made of vegetable mass, painted in black and red, crowned by a conical headdress, cowwebbed, worked on a wooden stick, provided with boar tusks, good condition, on pedestal;
ceremonial staffs are images of the souls of deceased persons. At initiation- and memorial ceremonies they appear as movable dolls above a screen of leaf material.

Comparing literature

Kaufmann, Christian, Vanuatu - Kunst aus der Südsee, Basel 1997, ill. 166 - 173