Insider’s lime flask

Known as mbandi iavu (lit. insider’s gourd), this elegantly carved gourd was used to preserve lime, combined with betel leaf and areca nut chewing.
It is decorated with a Janus-like human face, its body stylized with openwork motifs, and a long nose whose tip extends into a rooster’s head with outstretched claws.
This bird was admired in the Sepik River region for its brilliant plumage and sexual vigor.
Towards the end of the – inevitable – period of seclusion in the young boy’s initiation, the wau (maternal uncle) would offer him this lime gourd, which he carried on his shoulder, cap down.
This type of gourd was a prestigious piece of utensil. They were handed down from generation to generation and represented the initiate’s clan ancestors.
For two similar models collected by Paul Wirz, see Friede, 2005, vol. 1, p. 223, fig. 190.
The second gourd is in the collections of the Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam, (Inv. no. 2670-138).

Price: €8,500