Rare male ancestor figure ·  Papua New Guinea - Humboldt Bay · ID: 3050183

Description

wood, red, white and black pigment,

Two comparable figures of this type, donated to the Museum voor Volkenkunde, Rotterdam in 1902, published by Greub, 1992, p. 68, fig. 13 & p. 69, fig. 14.

Greub reports that such figures were collected by de Clercq (1887-88) and van der Sande (1903) at Humboldt Bay, but that the centres of their production were on the islands of Yamna and Wakde.

Another figure of this type (Greub, 1992, p. 66, fig. 11) was found in a “darma” (sacred men’s house) on Yamna. The men’s houses were the centres of traditional religious life, where the sacred bamboo flutes were kept and where the initiation of the boys took place.

The figural carvings probably functioned as ancestor figures, which were integral to the ceremonies associated with the men’s house.

Comparing literature

Greub, Suzanne, Art of North West New Guinea, New York 1992, p. 65 ff. Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. I, Köln 1995, p. 66, ill. 45