Ɵ Male anthropomorphic hook, Sepik, Papua New... Lot 27

Ɵ Male anthropomorphic hook, Sepik, Papua New Guinea Wood, color pigments H. 130 cm By hand, in white paint on back: WH557 Missing part of hook Anthropomorphic hook, Sepik, Papua New Guinea H. 51 1/4 in Provenance : - Wayne Heathcote, New York - Acquired by the present owner in the early 2000's Bibliography : For a close example, see New Guinea Art-Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, 2005, Volume 2 plate 279. The Sepik is the longest river in Papua New Guinea. The societies living in contact with it have developed a statuary that is exceptional in its inventiveness, linked to the cult of the ancestors and to nature. A great power emerges from this work. It represents a male figure standing on a wooden crescent. The figure is monumental, frontal, hieratic. The mouth is half-open, like a question. At the top of the skull, a wooden hook is used to hang it up. The back and the torso are studded with scarifications of great inventiveness, sometimes linear, sometimes curved. The hook in the shape of a crescent moon was probably used to deposit offerings presented to the ancestor of the clan, probably even the skulls of the forefathers themselves.