Spirit board "gope" · Papua New Guinea - Gulf · ID: 3049764
sold
EUR 2,000
Provenance
Emile Deletaille, Brussels, BelgiumLempertz, Brussels, 24. October 2018, Lot 137
Size
H: 54 cm
H: 21.3 inch
Description
wood, pigment residues,
The painting of the carved boards with red ochre confered “heat”, menace, or dangerous power “imunu” on these objects, and the addition of skulls, and age itself, increased “imunu”.
Together with other sacred objects they were kept in large communal men’s houses divided into cubicles, each allotted to a particular clan or subclan.