Ceremonial house sign

Reference : 2208

Ceremonial house sign

It is decorated with symbolic clan motifs and a stylized face.
Carved wood enhanced with pigments.
Dimensions: Height 1.98m, width 0.55m
Circa 1930
Upper Sepik River
Papua New Guinea

Provenance:
– Philip Goldman Collection, London
– Franco Ignazio Castelli Collection (1920-2002)
– Kept in the family to this day

Exhibitions:
– Creazione e tradizionze tribale. Center d’art Contemporain et Primitif Milano November-December 1971
– Creativita Tribale -Melanesia. Galleria Alessandra Castelli Bergamo, December 1974. reproduced in catalog no. 40/1684

More details

This large panel, carved in high relief, features a human face adorned with curvilinear facial paintings characteristic of the Mulmul’yonn clan, in the Woguma stylistic area. The stylized face represents that of the hero Wulruwiyanggwet .

The rich decor of dark-brown circular shapes accentuates the dynamic, with small curvilinear arms projecting skywards, and the hands ingeniously positioned above the head, giving the embodied hero remarkable acrobatic flexibility. The character’s round face with simplified, schematized features, whose expressiveness is accentuated by the light pigments covering it. The concentric ovoid eyes are intensified by the black of the pupils, while the mouth, enhanced with red pigments, reveals a broad smile.

Beautiful polychromy with traces of whitewash in the engraving recesses on this panel of this rare iconographic typology.

Price: €6.800

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