Male figure

Our bero kandimbong is depicted in the classic standing position, arms detached from the body, hands resting on the hips. Face tilted back slightly, smiling.
The septum and ears are pierced to allow the attachment of ornaments. The head supports a headdress and the nape of the neck is decorated with a geometric design. The statuette still has its tapa loincloth.
According to ethnographic notes by the missionary of the Société du Verbe Divin congregation, Father Joseph Schmidt (1), the kandimbong were superior spirits. He referred to them alternately as idols or ancestor figures.
This type of figure, of medium size, was carved for an important member of the clan and given to his son or nephew. During the initiation period, the figurine was removed from the men’s ceremonial house, where it was usually kept, and taken into the bush with the young man.
But it could also have had a protective function, as Louis Pierre Ledoux notes in his Journal de terrain(2), perhaps referring to our sculpture when he writes:
“Collected a malita (in pidgin language.) or numarukirar. First a little scratched…, then given to a woman to please you….Small figurines collected. A male to put on the bow of the canoe with offerings of food to make the canoe run well….small figures stay on the shore …. These are also called kandimbong… ”

Price: €19,500

__________________________________________

1- Schmidt. 1933, pp. 676-678

2- Translated from the archives of Louis Pierre Ledoux, diary February 3-June 9, 1936, page 163,

sold at Willow Auction House, New Jersey, November 16, 2021(lot 108 box F1)