Porte avec tête de buffle

Description

wood, greyish brown patina, massive wooden plank, carved with a buffalo head, slightly dam., abrasion of paint;
the water buffalo symbolizes virility and suggests wealth and status for the Toraja. More or less stylized the motif is universally employed and appears on the houses of the living as well as the dead. The Toraja place the remains of the deceased in small caves in the rock which are sealed by hardwood doors like the present one.