Online catalogue for the 59th tribal art auction

11 Machete

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea

wood, reddish brown patina, of simple form, with a slanted blade tip, min. dam., slight signs of abrasion, minor missing parts; Wuvulu Island is part of the Western Islands of the Bismarck Archipelago in the western Pacific Ocean, part of Manus Province, Papua New Guinea. It is the western most island of the thirteen island groups that make up the chain of islands in the archipelago. It is an island of volcanic origin encircled by a coral reef with a maximum height of three meters above sea level.

L: 193 cm
L: 76 inch

Sold.

12 Back ornament "kara ut"

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea, Abelam

in the shape of a stylized human figure with a cotton weave corpus, spread with red, yellow and black pigment, the contours of face and body formed by nassa snails, arms and head ornament made of boar tusks; only men who already had reached the level of "kara" were allowed to wear a "kara ut", which was an important war ornament in former times. It was held with the teeth and should demonstrate aggressiveness. In function and meaning the "kara ut" refers to a belligerent boar.

H: 34 cm
H: 13.4 inch

Provenance
Ludwig Bretschneider, Munich, Germany

Literature
Heermann, Ingrid, Menter, Ulrich, Schmuck der Südsee, Ornament und Symbol, Objekte aus dem Linden-Museum Stuttgart, München 1990, ill. 26, 2.

Price: 600 - 1300 €

13 Back ornament "kara ut"

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea, Abelam

in the shape of a stylized human figure, cotton weave corpus, dyed with red, yellow and black pigment, the contours marked by nassa snails, showing a big head with bow-shaped nose and eyes made of shell discs, half-circular ears, crowned by boar tusks

H: 38 cm
H: 15 inch

Provenance
Ludwig Bretschneider, Munich, Germany

Literature
Heermann, Ingrid, Menter, Ulrich, Schmuck der Südsee, Ornament und Symbol, Objekte aus dem Linden-Museum Stuttgart, München 1990, ill. 26,1.

Sold.

14 Drum "kundu"

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea, Asmat

wood, light, reddish brown patina, hollowed log, in the shape of an hourglass, band ornament in flat relief around the upper rim, rotan ring for fixing the reptile drum skin, the latter only fragmentary, the corpus carved with a stylized male figure in whole length, dam., minor missing parts (nose of the figure), crack in the copus; the corpus of the drum has been hollowed with glowing logs in a procedure lasting for weeks and months. Afterwards the surface was smoothened with the skin of saw fish or rough leaves. The "glue" between reptile skin and wood is a mixture of human blood (from the lateron owner of the drum) and chalk of snails and mussels.

H: 74,5 cm
H: 29.3 inch

Provenance
Ludwig Bretschneider, Munich, Germany
Coll. Poley, Munich, Germany

Literature
Helfrich, Klaus u.a., Asmat, Mythos und Kunst im Leben mit den Ahnen, Musuem für Völkerkunde, Berlin 1996, p. 81 ff.

Sold.

15 Male ancestor figure

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea, Asmat

wood, reddish brown patina, flat and stylized corpus, carved on a post-like seat, in one line continued by the upper part of the body, flanked by clamp-like arranged thin limbs, crowned by an egg-shaped head with laughing mouth, to the front and to the back decorated with curvilinear and notched ornaments, indicated mask face at the back of the seat, coiffure and chin encrusted with black paint, slightly dam., on block-like base

H: 46 cm
H: 18.1 inch

Provenance
Missionary Collection, Belgium
Yann Ferrandin, Paris, France

Price: 2300 - 4500 €

16 Small ancestor board "gope"

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea - Golf, Kerema

wood, dark brown patina, kaolin, diamond-shaped, cut on top and at the bottom, the front surface slightly deepened, carved with a stylized human figure in flat relief, crowned by two heads, one on top of the other, slightly dam., cracks, water spots, minor missing parts at the rim, on base; each ritual board was named after an ancestor, and was said to have supernatural power.

H: 51 cm
H: 20.1 inch

Provenance
Private Collection, Sidney, Australia (~1960)

Price: 600 - 1000 €

17 Ancestral representation

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea - Golf

wood, dark brown patina, the figure is cut out in silhouette, the body flattened and reduced to geometrical forms: a round head on a diamond-shaped body, flanked by handle-shaped arms, both legs angled to the sides, ornamental arranged facial features, grooves and deepened planes accentuated by white and red pigment rubbed into the deepenings, slightly dam., paint rubbed off; an unusual type of ancestral representation. Presumably an aberrant form of "agiba", or skull rack.

H: 65 cm
H: 25.6 inch

Sold.

18 Lime spatula

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea - Massim

wood, shiny, blackish brown patina, crowned by a seated figure in profile, stylized in form, the spatula below ornamentally dissolved and partly open worked, concentric lines accentuated by kaolin rubbed into the deepenings, min. dam., on base

H: 27,5 cm
H: 10.8 inch

Provenance
Yann Ferrandin, Paris, France

Literature
Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. I, Köln 1995, p. 137

Price: 3200 - 6500 €

19 Big wickerwork mask "didagur"

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea - Middle Sepik

rattan, red, white and black pigment, feathers, a conical-shaped rattan framework, coated with lygodium wickerwork, a raised nose ridge with a trunk-like prolongation, a protruding lower lip underneath, min. dam., signs of abrasion, small missing parts; "didagur" masks were used at initiation ceremonies. They are represented in both male and female forms, the male identified by the long nose. The latter is interpreted variously, as depiction of an Echidna head, lizard tail or frigate bird, which is known as "soul bird" all over Oceania.

H: 79 cm
H: 31.1 inch

Literature
Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. I, Köln 1995, p. 250, ill. 273

Sold.

20 Gable mask

This object is not available any more.

Papua New Guinea - Middle Sepik

plaited basketry on a cane framework, overmodeled with clay and ornamented with red ochre, black and white pigments, showing a protruding forehead, the curved nose with pierced septum worked separately, the rim enclosed by feathers (coiffure) and grass fibre tufts (beard), slightly dam., the clay-like mass fissured and missing in some areas; such masks were fixed to the gables of big ritual houses (tambaran houses).

H: 73 cm
H: 28.7 inch

Literature
G. Aumann, Ausstellungskatalog Kunst und Kunsthandwerk aus Neu Guinea, Natur-Museum Coburg 1986, p. 73, ill. 152

Sold.