Crâne de remplacement "kus" ·  Westneuguinea / Westpapua (Irian Jaya), Asmat · ID: 3049715

Description

wood, pigment remains, abrus seeds, rest.

To be accepted into the adult world, a young man in earlier times had to kill an enemy and “take the head”. When the colonial authorities banned headhunting, from then on these wooden heads were used in the initiation rites instead of “real” skulls.

As part of the initiation ceremony, the young man-to-be and the replacement head are taken on a canoe ride towards the land of the ancestors. On this trip the boy acts as if he is ageing rapidly until he falls down and symbolically dies. He is immersed in the river along with the wood head and is reborn as a baby. As the canoe returns to the village he “grows up” towards his true age acquiring knowledge and wisdom. Upon reaching the village he has become an adult and a warrior.

L’objet Crâne de remplacement “kus” avec l’ID d’objet 3049715 a fait partie de la dernière vente aux enchères 101e vente aux enchères dans 11 novembre 2023 le Zemanek-Münster Hôtel des ventes. L’objet portant le numéro de lot 9 a atteint un prix de vente de 1 800 €.

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Littérature comparée

Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. I, Köln 1995, p. 85, ill. 65