A MONUMENTAL ABELAM CEREMONIAL HEAD

Important Aboriginal Art
Melbourne
26 March 2014
158

ARTIST UNKNOWN (PAPUA NEW GUINEA)

EAST SEPIK Province, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
A MONUMENTAL ABELAM CEREMONIAL HEAD

carved wood with yellow, black, white and red pigments

101.0 cm height

Estimate: 
$2,800 - 3,800
Provenance

Private collection, Melbourne, collected Maprik, East Sepik Region, early 1960s

Catalogue text

These large sculptural objects were created and used in the context of the spirit cult or possibly yam cult in the haus tambaran (traditional ancestral worship house).