Description:

Oceania, Papua New Guinea, East Sepik River region, Iatmul people, ca. mid-20th century CE. An interesting example of an overmodeled 'skull' with a structural framework formed from a coconut. The Iatmul people resorted to using coconuts in place of real human skulls during the mid to late 1960s when headhunting became illegal and the exportation of human skulls was outlawed. This coconut 'skull' is covered with mud to resemble a stylized human face and painted with vibrant swaths of white, brown, yellow, and orange pigment. Petite cowrie snail shells line the front of the human-hair coiffure and comprise the inlaid eyes while a pierced septum would have held additional ornamentation. Size: 8.375" L x 6.7" W x 6.5" H (21.3 cm x 17 cm x 16.5 cm)

Provenance: private J.H. collection, Beaverton, Oregon, USA, acquired in January 2013; ex-Tribal Art Kortmann, Dortmund, Germany

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#152090

  • Condition: This is a coconut rather than a human skull. Minor losses to some tufts of hair, chipping to original pigment and mud layers, with several stable fissures, and light encrustations, otherwise intact and very good. Light earthen deposits and great remains of original pigment.

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May 21, 2020 8:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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