Spirit board "gope" · Papua New Guinea - Gulf, Upper Era River, Aime Village · ID: 3053529
Starting price
EUR 5,000
Estimated price
EUR 8,000
Provenance
Stolper Galleries, Munich, Germany (1972)Arno Henseler, Munich, Germany
Size
H: 171,5 cm
H: 67.5 inch
Description
wood, pigments,
The painting of the carved boards with red ochre conferred “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.
Comparing literature
Hamson, Michael, The Art of the Papuan Gulf, Los Angeles 2010, p. 36 f.