The finial from the Eudald Serra collection

The architecture of the men’s houses was conceived as a metaphor for the body of a primordial ancestor, a male ancestor in the Lower Sepik, a female ancestor in the Middle Sepik. The façade represented its face, and the whole building its body.

Ngeko ceremonial houses in the Middle Sepik region of the Iatmul, also known as haus tambaran in Tok Pisin, are the most sophisticated. Their large facades ended in a spur crowned by a finial at each end of the roof. The sculpture, set between 15 and 20 metres high, was visible from the ground.

Our sculpture represents the Ngawi fishing eagle. This bird of prey was a powerful symbol of headhunting, as the eagle is an excellent hunter, swooping down on its prey. Gregory ^Bateson1 reports that these birds symbolized the aggressive strength of the village. The eagle was synonymous with the headhunting prowess of the Iatmul community. The animal is depicted with an oversized beak and neck. He seized a woman in his talons at shoulder level.

The female figure is shown seated on a decorated spur in the shape of a hollowed-out cone, allowing the sculpture to be fixed by pressing it onto another piece of wood. The face is smiling, with rimmed eyes shaped like shells and pierced to form the pupil. The ears are pierced for the attachment of fiber ornaments. The neck is adorned with a collar. The arms are detached from the body, the hands resting on the thighs. A slightly rounded belly suggests a pregnant woman. This representation was most often seen as the procreative mother of eagles.

The remarkable condition of our ridge figure suggests that it was stored, probably after its functional life, in the upper chamber of the ceremonial house. Like a similar finial described by Crispin ^Howarth2 and preserved in Melbourne’s Museum Victoria (Inv. X32299).
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1- Peltier & Morin. 2006, p.407
2- Howarth. 2015, p.139

Price: €17,000