Sitting figure ·  India, Naga · ID: 3034001

Description

wood, blackish brown patina, genderless, extremely short arms, with both hands supporting three anthropomorphic heads in front of the breast, incised jagged tattoos, slightly dam., cracks, paint rubbed off, one of the skull rest., on metal plate;
the statue was kept inside of a dwelling or “morung”. “Morung” means the big community centre, which served as meeting place for men, as sleeping room for adolescents and bachelors and as protective shelter for the big drums, which were beaten on the occasion of important feasts. We know nothing about the function of the figure.

Comparing literature

Barbier, Jean Paul, Kunst aus Nagaland, Pforzheim 1986, p. 82