Anthropomorphic figure
Papua New Guinea
Suspension hook depicting an ancestor figure
Lower Sepik, Papua New Guinea
Early 20th century
Carved wood, pigments and fibers
Height: 56 cm – 22 in.
Provenance
Ex collection Leendert Van Lier (1910-1995), Amsterdam
Ex Christie’s, Amsterdam, “African, Oceanic and Indonesian art from the Van Lier collection”, April 15th, 1997, lot 130
Ex collection Galerie Flak, Paris
Ex collection Pierre Mondoloni, France, acquired from the above
Each hook was carved in the form of a specific named ancestor or spirit being.
As Christian Coiffier & Douglas Newton noted in "Sculpture from the Sepik River region": « the swinging of the hook from the roof beam expresses the continuity of life, like a metronome marking time ».