Specifications

• Height: 35 x 46 cm
• Material: wood, plant fibre
• Position: 
• Gender:
• Indigenous name: banamatingan

Provenance

Private collection, The Hague.

Publications

Rossel, Siebe & Arnold Wentholt (eds.)(2008), Tribal Treasures in Dutch Private Collections, 127.

Additional information

The idea of a soul ship on which those who passed away travel upstream on through the sky to the afterlife is a conviction found on many island cultures of Indonesia. Here we see a teeming world aboard a ship, the stern shaped as a dragon or bird, a hornbill. The hulk stands on four wheels. Different parts are movable and this gives the impression that it was made as a toy. See for an almost similar piece 001360.

Photo credits

Ben Grishaaver, Leiden.