Specifications

• Length: 21,2 cm
• Material: brass
• Position: 
• Gender: 
• Indigenous name: sanggori, balalunggi, turing
• Price realised: € 1.000,- hp

Provenance

Private collection, The Hague; De Zwaan, Amsterdam 17-11-2020, lot 3301.

Publications

Ref.: Wentholt, Arnold (2013), ‘Head ornament from Central Sulawesi’, in Francine Brinkgreve & David J. Stuart-Fox (eds.) Living with Indonesian Art. The Frits Liefkes Collection, 264-265.

Additional information

When in the early 20th century these ornaments came to the attention of western visitors in Central and North Sulawesi, the skill of producing them was apparently already lost. According to the scholar Adriani the word sanggori is borrowed from the To Mori who were the casters of these ornaments. In the Minahasa they were named turing, in the local language meaning tusk of the babirusa, an indigenous small deer species. In the Palu Valley they were called balalunggi. In Poso and surrounding areas these ornaments were also in use to adorn the male death masks, pemiá.

Depicted is a snake or an eel, of which local myths are abound.

Photo credits

De Zwaan, Amsterdam