Zemanek-Münster

Ceremonial staff "temes nevinbür"

Vanuatu
not available anymore
Provenance
collected in situ
Mr. West (1978)
Size
H: 70 cm
H: 27.6 inch

Description

anthropomorphic head made of vegetable mass, painted in black and red, crowned by a conical headdress coated with cobwebs, worked on a wooden stick, provided with boar tusks, metal base;
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

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