Leg of a bed "patapat" · Papua New Guinea - Bismarck Archipelago - Admirality Islands · ID: 3037956
not available anymore
Size
H: 44 cm
H: 17.3 inch
Description
wood, middle brown patina, tripartite construction: massive base on disc-shaped foot, carved with a janus-half figure, originally crowned by a plug-shaped projection (now missing), which served for mortizing into the framing of the bed, dam., minor missing parts (ears), cracks, abrasion of paint, base;
so-called “patapats” form part of the brides dowry. Feastful adorned sitting on a “patapat” the bride was carried to her future husbands house. The beds played an important role at burial rites as well. The common canoe-prow like decoration reminds of the imagination of “soul-boats” we know from Indonesia.
Comparing literature
Ohnemus, Sylvia, Zur Kultur der Admiralitäts-Insulaner in Melanesien, Basel 1996, p. 281 ff.