The complex form features double-headed terminals; each larger head with domed
forehead, shallow relief-carved coiffure and notched beard. The exaggerated
beak-shaped nose is perforated. The small simple mouth and circular eyes are
characteristic of the Coastal Sepik art style. At each side of the head there
are perforations for ornamentation. The chin terminates in an incised band from
which stems a smaller head in the form of a dog, with floppy ears and pug nose.
The mouth of each is open-carved, with a disk-shaped object clenched in its
jaws. The underside of the neck bar is decorated with an openwork scalloped
ridge running the length of each terminus; the central portion of the neck bar
with curvilinear incising. The legs are formed of bent cane, notched and lashed
with rattan for security. The present example is a headrest form commonly met
with throughout the Sepik River region. However this is an extremely sensitively
carved, very old, and unusually large example for this object type. The complexity
and execution of the overall work makes it of special note and value. For a
nearly identical example also from Taraway Island, see Stephen-Chauvet, Les
Artes Indigenes en Nouvelle-Guinee, Paris: 1930; cat. 334.
Published: D'Alleva, Anne. 1988. Art of New Guinea. Cambridge: Hurst Gallery.
(cat. 37) |
