Standing female figure ·  Papua New Guinea - Sepik · ID: 3040514

Description

wood, dyed with red pigment, accents with white pigment, accentuation of female sex characteristics, carved with nose ornament, drilled ear holes, slightly dam., minor missing parts, crack, rep. (bowl), abrasion of paint, base;
probably from the coastal area between the Sepik and Ramu rivers. This early figure relates to an example collected in 1884 on the Austrian naval corvette “Aurora” (now in the Museum für Völkerkunde, Wien).
It is told, that grieving widowers carved female figurines, depicting their spouse in the typical female pose of a birth giving woman. Apart from that female figures represent clan founders or creator beings and were kept in the men or ritual houses.

The object Standing female figure with the object ID 3040514 was part of the auction 83rd Tribal Art Auction on May 28, 2016. The object with the lot number 88 achieved a sales price of EUR 7,000 with an asking price of EUR 4,000.

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Comparing literature

Peltier, Philippe et.al., Tanz der Ahnen, Zürich 2015, ill. 107

Publications

Conru Primitive Art (ed.), The colour of Melanesia, London, Brussels 1999, p. 11