Big male ritual figure

Description

wood, painted in the traditional colours (red and yellow ochre, white and black), the arms close to the body, painted bracelets of trochus shell “duamal”, crowned by a hornbill, the neck carved with “wings”, dam., minor missing parts, strong abrasion of paint, rep. (upper half of the beak), socle;
presumably depicting a male ancestor, the hornbill representing a clan emblem, head-hunting and ancestral symbol.