Figural frieze "adu bihara" ·  Indonesia - Nias · ID: 3040740

Description

wood, bamboo, rattan, greyish brown patina, 62 wooden sticks with indicated (“adu zatua”) heads, with rattan fixed to wooden strip, sticks partly missing, dam.;
long strings of sticks made of different types of wood called “priests” figures (“adu bihara”) consist of 50 to 100 finger-sized pieces of wood. The row is kept in the roof beams of a novice priest’s house. The “adu bihara” are used ritually as they are dwelling places for benevolent spirits. They also serve for a practical purpose by acquainting the priest with the types of wood from which images are made (there are up to 30 types of wood used for the images).

The object Figural frieze “adu bihara” with the object ID 3040740 was part of the auction 83rd Tribal Art Auction on May 28, 2016. The object with the lot number 17 achieved a sales price of EUR 3,000 with an asking price of EUR 800.

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Comparing literature

Feldman, Jerome, The eloquent dead, Los Angeles 1985, p. 52