Male ancestor figure "hazi nuwu" or "adu nuwu" · Indonesia - eastern South Nias, Batu Islands · ID: 3051098
Erwin & Susanne Melchardt, Vienna, Austria
Description
wood, fabric, base
These figures was probably part of an ancestral altar “daro daro”. The projection on the underside of the pedestal was used to peg the figure into an altar panel, which could be kept simple but could also be very elaborate, e.g. in the shape of a ship (cf. “Nias, Tribal Treasures”, 1999, p. 244, fig. 105 & p. 245, fig. 106).
Small bamboo tubes were tied around the figures (often with strips of red cotton fabric), which contained a number of tiny palmwood sticks, “famaso”.
The object Male ancestor figure “hazi nuwu” or “adu nuwu” with the object ID 3051098 was part of the auction Auction 103 on November 16, 2024. The object with the lot number 286 achieved a sales price of EUR 2,400 with an asking price of EUR 1,500.
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Comparing literature
Nias, Tribal Treasures, Cosmic reflections in stone, wood and gold, Delft 1990