Standing male ancestor figure "kawe"

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Description

iron wood, brown patina, traces of black paint, fragmentary body with elongated forms, both arms and the right leg missing, expressive facial features with tapering nose, on metal plate;
such figures are carved for the building of a new Men’s House and are left to decay after the inauguration ceremonies. They represent the first humans, or “asmat”.

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Comparing literature

Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. I, Köln 1995, p. 82, ill. 62

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