Suspension hook · Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée - Sepik · ID: 3040043
Emil Storrer, Zurich, Switzerland
Description
wood, reddish brown patina, black paint, lacquer (?), the shaft carved with a pair of stylized hornbills, facing each other in symmetrical arrangment, with their long beak supporting the head of a crocodile, the latter provided with drilled holes for suspension, slightly dam., base;
suspension hooks were used in private and in ritual houses likewise - they served for every day life and ceremonial purposes. They are carved with human, respectively animal figures corresponing to the clan-specific mythology of their owner. In private houses food and other valuables were kept in bags and baskets which were suspended from the rafters of the building by means of two- or three-pronged hooks. Hooks in the men’s ritual houses were used for suspension of sacrificial offerings (chicken and betel nut) which were needed for invoking the “wagen” spirits, which were responsible for the well-being of the entire village communtiy.
Littérature comparée
Greub, Suzanne (ed.), Kunst am Sepik, Basel 1985, p. 191