Online catalogue for the 48th tribal art auction

11 Staff

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea - Sepik

wood, dark, shiny patina, long, straight handle, the upper part decorated with a human figure, showing a shortened stocky body, a face with big, circular eyes and a long, beak-like nose, crowned by a high tapering headgear with stylized janus face, min. dam., fissures, on base

H: 33 cm
H: 13 inch

Provenance
Coll. John Dintenfass, New York, USA

Price: 750 - 1150 €

12 Portrait of a spirit´s head

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea - Maprik

wood, polychrome paint, an oval facial plane framed by a collar-shaped bulge, simplified facial features, bat ears with drill-holes, small projection for support at the bottom, min. dam.; depicting a clan spirit, affixed at the front of cult houses, characterized by highly abstracted facial features.

H: 46 cm
H: 18.1 inch

Provenance
Woods Davy, California, USA

Literature
Aumann, Georg, Kunst und Kunsthandwerk aus Neu Guinea, Ausst.kat. Natur-Museum Coburg 1986, p. 82, ill. 164

Price: 1500 - 2300 €

13 Pair of janus figures

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea - Lower Sepik

wood, black patina, residues of red pigment, two male figures, back to back rising from an oval base, grown together on top of the headcrests, where they are carved with crocodile heads, both figures with broad and flattened bodies, heads with the typical beak-like nose reaching down to the breast, decorated with notched ornaments, slightly dam., crack at the base; as in most Lower Sepic sculpture, the long nose probably indicates that the figures represent mythological spirit beings rather than true ancestors.

H: 27,5 cm
H: 10.8 inch

Provenance
Sotheby´s New York, 3.11.2005, Lot 344

Literature
Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. I, Köln 1995, p. 189, ill. 195
Kelm, Heinz, Kunst vom Sepik, Band III, Berlin 1968, p. 90 ff.

Sold.

14 Drum "kundu"

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea - Sepik

wood, middle brown patina, in the shape of an hourglass, decorated with notched geometrical ornaments, reptile drum skin (dam.), rotan ring is missing

H: 67,5 cm
H: 26.6 inch

Literature
Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Köln 1995, p. 197, ill. 206

Price: 800 - 1200 €

15 Figural suspension hook

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea - Sepik

wood, spotty patina, pigment residues, anchor-shaped hook, carved with a face, supporting a human figure with strong shoulders merging into free carved arms, covered by notched ornaments, with kaolin rubbed into the deepenings, crowned by an oval mask face with the eyes inset with cowrie snails, min. dam., insect caused damge, small missing parts; in Melanesia suspension hooks are "household articles". They were fixed to the ceiling by lianas and could be pulled up and down. Baskets and nets with food were hung up in order to protect them against mice and rats.

H: 80 cm
H: 31.5 inch

Provenance
Denis Ghiglia, Paris, France

Sold.

16 Standing male ancestor figure "kawe"

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea, Asmat

wood, middle brown patina, a slender body with free carved, extremely thin limbs with accentuated joints, narrow sloping shoulders are supporting an egg-shaped head with simplified features, decorated with incised ornaments, on base

H: 39,5 cm
H: 15.6 inch

Provenance
Valluet-Ferrandin, Paris, France

Literature
Helfrich, Klaus u.a., Asmat, Mythos und Kunst im Leben mit den Ahnen, Musuem für Völkerkunde, Berlin 1996, p. 179

Sold.

17 Ancestor figure

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea, Asmat

wood, reddish brown patina with traces of black paint and white pigment, a female figure with free carved thin limbs, which are symmetrically flanking the slender trunk and the staff, the figure is rising from; both hands are resting aside the upper legs, an elongated head with pith helmet, crowned by the big sculpture of a calao bird, which is arranged opposite to the figure below, slightly dam., cracks, minor missing parts, on base, old collection label on the base; presumably a "kawe" ancestor figure. "Fumeripit" carved many human figures, when beating his drum they got alive, forming the first clans. The stiffness of "kawe" figures is a reminiscence of those wooden figures.

H: 1,50 m
H: 1,50 m

Provenance
Valluet-Ferrandin, Paris, France
Coll. Baron Freddy Rolin, Brussels, Belgium

Literature
Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. I, Köln 1995, p. 83
Helfrich, Klaus u.a., Asmat, Mythos und Kunst im Leben mit den Ahnen, Musuem für Völkerkunde, Berlin 1996, S. 179 ff.

Price: 18000 - 27000 €

18 Paddle

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea - Korewori

wood, pigment residues, decorated with fine curved ornaments, long, straight handle, the lower part decorated with two faces, arranged oposite to each other, min. dam., signs of usage

L: 162 cm
L: 63.8 inch

Sold.

19 Neckrest in the shape of a stylized animal

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea - Sepik

wood, middle brown patina with remainders of black paint, four angled struts - arranged opposite to each other - are rising from an oval base, they are supporting a pillow carved with zoomorphic mask faces on either end, decorated with notched and incised ornaments, slightly dam., on base

H: 19 cm; B: 64 cm
H: 7.5 inch; B: 25.2 inch

Provenance
Pitt-Rivers-Museum, Oxford, Great Britain

Literature
Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. I, Köln 1995, p. 195, ill. 204

Sold.

20 Bark belt "oppum"

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea

spiral-shaped bark, with incised linear cross-ornaments, red pigment rubbed into the deepenings, slightly dam., minor missing parts, on metal base; bark belts were worn by men during fights in order to protect their bodies.

D: 28,5 cm; B: 11 cm
D: 11.2 inch; B: 4.3 inch

Provenance
Lewis Wara, Seattle, USA

Literature
Aumann, Georg, Kunst und Kunsthandwerk aus Neu Guinea, Ausst.kat. Natur-Museum Coburg 1986, p. 125
Wardwell, Allen, Island Ancestors, Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection, University of Washington Press 1994, p. 102

Price: 670 - 1000 €