Specifications

• Height: 142,9 cm.
• Material: wood, pigments
• Position: 
• Gender:
• Indigenous name:
• Price realised:

Provenance

Dutch Reformed Missionary Society, Baarn before 1928; Leendert van Lier (1910-1995); Cornelis Pieter Meulendijk (1912-1979), Rotterdam before 1958; ; Loed van Bussel, Amsterdam; Sotheby’s. New York 15-5-2009; Tomkins Collection, New York.

Publications

Hoog, Jan de (1958), Nieuw-Guinea, kunst uit privé bezit, p. 39 nr 29 and ill. 15; Webb, Virginia-Lee (ed.) (2011), Ancestors of the Lake, p. 25; Michael Hamson (ed.) (2013), Oceanic Art, pp. 24-27.

Exhibitions

Etnografisch Museum, Delft, July 5 – October 4, 1958; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis 1999-2009.

Additional information

This sculpture, characteristic of the style of the Wakda-Yamna Islands, will have served in the men’s ceremonial house, darma, possibly adorning the top of the steps leading to the rectangular building.

Photo credits

Colour photo: Michael Hamson.