Figural fragment

wood, base

This figure is carved in the style of the "adu zatua" ancestor figures that were common throughout Nias.

It comes from an animal-shaped stool, as it was used in ancient times for grating coconuts. A rasp made of shell or metal was bound to the head of the stool. With this, sitting astride the stool, one could comfortably scrape the coconut flesh out of the shell. Anthropomorphic figures were often attached to the neck of the animals. For a comparable object from the Coppens Collection, see Feldman, 1990, p. 305, ill. 247.