Specifications

• Height: 43 cm.
• Material: wood, cotton
• Position: squatting
• Gender:
• Indigenous name:
• Price realised: € 17.505,- hp

Provenance

W.E.C. Veen (1890-1940), government official in the Dutch East-Indies; thence by family descent; Van Spengen, Hilversum 30-9-2021, lot 3531.

Publications

Ref.: Jonge Nico de & Toos van Dijk (1995), Vergeten Eilanden, p. 63

Exhibitions

Additional information

Posture and earrings make a provenance Tanimbar likely. On the torn label underneath we read Opolera, a name much in use during the early collecting era for larger sculpture indicating the sky deity or Creator on the southwestern islands. Also known as Uplerlavna (Babar, Sermata, Luang and Leti) and Uplera (Marsela). The type of sculpture, however, makes a guardian figure also possible. The statue appears to be cleansed.

Photo credits

Van Spengen, Hilversum