A BIOMA FIGURE

Part 2: Important Aboriginal Art
Melbourne
27 November 2013
207

(PAPUAN GULF, PAPUA NEW GUINEA)

A BIOMA FIGURE

carved wood with red and white pigments

40.5 cm height

Estimate: 
$500 - 700
Sold for $960 (inc. BP) in Auction 32 - 27 November 2013, Melbourne
Provenance

Private collection, Melbourne, collected in New Guinea in the 1960s

Catalogue text

These energetic and symmetrical silhouette carved sculptures are known as Bioma figures. They are spirit images and form part of a large presentation of objects in men's ceremonial houses in the Papuan Gulf. The sculptures give us a glimpse of how the people imagined the appearance, form and character of the spirits.