Suspension hook with Janus face · Papua New Guinea - Sepik · ID: 3051755
German Private Collection, Munich
Description
wood, old collection label: “New Guinea …er Sepik, house or …hook. Carved with stone tools. Collected …1st World War. …Missner. 1st Pre…- Museum.” (writing has partially disappeared, cannot be reconstructed)
Suspension hooks can be found in many formal and iconographic variations throughout the Sepik region.
According to Gregory Bateson, any hook can be transformed into a spirit. All one has to do, is to offer flowers or leaves to him and fasten a basket with sacrificial offerings to the object. This temporarily turns the hook into an active image of the ancestor that can be contacted for help. (Peltier, 2015, p. 197)
The object Suspension hook with Janus face with the object ID 3051755 was part of the auction Auction 104 on April 12, 2025. The object with the lot number 215 achieved a sales price of EUR 800 with an asking price of EUR 600.
Here you will find more objects and interesting facts about Oceanian art.
Comparing literature
Peltier, Philippe et.al., Tanz der Ahnen, Zürich 2015, p. 197