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A Kopar Cult figure, Lower Sepik, Papua New Guinea, Early 20th century

Exhibited by Serge Schoffel - Art Premier

Material Wood, pigments, and vegetal fibers

Dimensions 89 cm

Place of Creation Papua New Guinea

Price €160K

Status Vetted

About the Work

This sculpture from Papua New Guinea, collected in the village of Singerin (Kopar people), displays various characteristics of the mysterious objects collected at the beginning of the 20th century in villages close to the administrative station of Angoram, and in the various hamlets of the village of Magendo located at the confluence of the Keram River with the Sepik River. These villages are not far from the Mariemberg SVD mission station. This station was established in 1913, so the inhabitants of these villages have been Christianized since the early years of the 20th century. The villagers speak a language from the Nor-Pondo language family (Laycock, 1973: 34 and 69). This language is spoken in the villages along the Lower Sepik, from Kanduanum to Marbuk. Some objects of the type shown here were collected in villages further down the river, such as Singerin, in the Sepik River delta, whose inhabitants speak a language closer to that of the Murik than to that of Magendo. However, there were many commercial and cultural exchanges between all these different neighboring villages.

This sculpture, with its hollowed-out body, has a height that corresponds to the average of all known sculptures (50 to 100 cm). Viewed from the side, it shows a slight curvature that contributes to its aesthetic appeal. This piece is carved from aelatively soft wood.1 It takes the form of a figure that is both anthropomorphic and zoomorphic, with a head extended by a nose in the shape of a bird’s beak. The torso is non-existent, which is not the case for all sculptures of this type. The limbs of this sculpture are spindly, the arms originating at the back of the head and the upper legs become one at the pelvis, the feet resting on a base a few centimeters high. It is thus possible to imagine that the sculptor wished to represent the local supernatural conception of a spirit.

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Provenance

Provenances:
- Reverend Father Ehmer, Rector of St. Paul
- Steyler Mission, Haus der Völker und Kulturen, Sankt Augustin, Germany Inventory number 91-2