Stone Ancestor head

Representing the well-known Abelam woodcarving style, this object is extremely rare, due to the material used.

This stone head is a representation of the mythical N’Gwaalndu ancestor, whose oval face is highlighted by a crescent-shaped beard that meets his ears. The entire face is covered in red pigment, with the forehead highlighted by yellow pigment. The back of the head is outlined with a zigzag pattern.

The eyes and around the mouth are adorned with chemical blue pigment. This blue pigment was introduced with the arrival of Westerners and used as a detergent to lighten white.

Sometimes called Reckitts Blue or Berliner Waschblau, this laundry blue was soon used as a pigment by sculptors.

The blue pigment, introduced in the 1880s by Europeans, was used as a detergent to lighten white. Sometimes called Reckitts Blue or Berliner Waschblau, this lye blue was soon used as a pigment by South Sea artists. (See Grunn M & Peltier P. 2007, page 164.

It is difficult to identify the use of this piece with any certainty, given the lack of information on the conditions under which it was collected. All we know is that Michael Hamson acquired it directly from the man who owned it in his village.

A possible interpretation would be to associate this piece directly with one of the most fascinating cultural aspects of the Abelam: the cultivation of large yams1^.

Traditional Abelam religion and spiritual beliefs involve a range of mystical objects, plants, animals and, in particular, ancestral spirits. Many of these supernatural beings are considered capable of influencing human affairs, and prudent people seek their help by giving them gifts, practicing magic and avoiding actions that would anger them.
Two of the most important categories of these supernatural beings are the kutaakwa, evil female spirits akin to the witches of Western folklore, and the ngwaalndu. Ngwaalndu are the most powerful and respected of all supernatural ^beings2.
Abelam men are initiated into these spiritual beings in a series of successive, fairly well-defined initiation ceremonies.
It was probably kept in the yam loft or in the men’s house.

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1- Ludovic Coupaye, Growing Artefacts, Displaying Relationships: Outlining the technical system of Long Yam cultivation and display among the Abelam of Nyamikum village (East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea), thesis, University of East Anglia, Norwich, 2004.
2- Richard Scaglion. 2013 Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh. Male initiation. In Abelamculture.wordpress.com

Price: €22,000