Image of a hornbill "pal" ·  Papua New Guinea, Abelam · ID: 3038263

Description

wood, red and yellow ochre, white and black pigment, traditionally flat work with prominent beak, slightly dam., minor missing parts (beak tip), abrasion of paint;
such hornbill images were attached to the front of ritual houses, two of them, one on the left and one on the right side underneath the frieze beam facing each other. When a new ritual house was errected the carvings were removed from the old house, they were washed and repainted and attached to the newly built ceremonial house.

Comparing literature

Koch, Gerd, Kultur der Abelam, Berlin 1968, p. 46 f.