Maori House Post figure Lot n° 44

Wood - 60 cm New Zealand Provenance: Sotheby's, Primitive Art, New York, 15 July 1975, Lot 140 Mr. and Mrs. Klaus Perls, New York Sotheby's, Important Tribal Art, 14 November 1995, Lot 133 James Stephenson, New York Private collection, United Kingdom Klaus and Dolly Perls were important Modern Art dealers in the United States after WWII. They played a major role in the promotion of non-Western arts. Their exceptional collection of works of art from the Benin Kingdom is now part of the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Maori House post figures are placed in the large communal meeting houses (Aotearoa). This figure represents a clan ancestor whose interest comes from the balance between the strong structure of the figure and the abundance of the ornamentation of the traditional tattoos.