Accession No
1935.51
Description
Full length wooden male figure on small pedestal base. Head has raised black hair cap, narrow club nose, cowries inlaid for eyes, small double pierced rectangular ear lugs and narrow crescent mouth with triangular red tongue hanging down from it. Main background colour to face is yellow, with red and black lines as design. Back of head coloured red. Arms hang by sides. Knobs for nipples with 2 rings incised round them. Pendant penis. Navel mark incised with zigzags above it. Body is red except for white and black ring on navel, white on penis tip and white between toes. Body thickest at rounded buttocks. Rattan whorl loop round neck, badly bent, and another round upper trunk, where trunk is slightly concave and waisted. Also a narrow rattan strip tied below the navel. Old fungus spots, especially on head and shoulders, need removing. Red smudged off in places on back of figure. Original accession notes: " Ancestral male effigy. This figure represents WAGAN (or shamanic spirit) or possibly some other clan ancestor. The tongue protrudes and there are incisions round the nipples and navel representing initiatory scars. There is a framework of rattan loops round the neck; another encircles the middle of the figure surrounding its arms and trunk. These rattan loops are intended to hold decorative and totemic plants on occasions when the figure is exhibited." Poor
Place
Oceania; Melanesia; Papua New Guinea; Middle Sepik; ?Kankanamun; ?Palimbai
Period
Source
Bateson, Gregory [collector and donor]
Department
Anth
Reference Numbers
1935.51; MAA: 1935.51
Cultural Affliation
T=Iatmul
Material
Wood; Cane; Shell; Cowrie Shell
Local Term
WAGAN
Measurements
Events
Context (CMS Context)
Decorative motifs: Figure (male): headtop (scalloped3); forehead (barline2); eyes (oval6-7:cowrie); ears (rectangles3); nose (club1); mouth (tongued2a); neck (short); jawline (curves1); chin (curved1); bust (breasts7); body marks (breasts); belly (domed); genitals (male3); body knobs (nipples); body marks (navel); body knobs (knees); body knobs (ankles); arms (on hips); hands (wrists+5fingers); legs (straight); feet (toes5+ankles); body knobs (knees); body knobs (ankles). (For further details on motifs see Lovelace " Bateson Project" , Vol. I). Museum record photographs: F10,8, F14,7, F14,8, F14,9. Basel Museum fur Volkerkunde numerical code: 13.2.8.; Collected by: Bateson.G;
Event Date 29/6/1995
Author: maa
Description (CMS Description)
Full length wooden male figure on small pedestal base. Head has raised black hair cap, narrow club nose, cowries inlaid for eyes, small double pierced rectangular ear lugs and narrow crescent mouth with triangular red tongue hanging down from it. Main background colour to face is yellow, with red and black lines as design. Back of head coloured red. Arms hang by sides. Knobs for nipples with 2 rings incised round them. Pendant penis. Navel mark incised with zigzags above it. Body is red except for white and black ring on navel, white on penis tip and white between toes. Body thickest at rounded buttocks. Rattan whorl loop round neck, badly bent, and another round upper trunk, where trunk is slightly concave and waisted. Also a narrow rattan strip tied below the navel. Old fungus spots, especially on head and shoulders, need removing. Red smudged off in places on back of figure. Original accession notes: " Ancestral male effigy. This figure represents WAGAN (or shamanic spirit) or possibly some other clan ancestor. The tongue protrudes and there are incisions round the nipples and navel representing initiatory scars. There is a framework of rattan loops round the neck; another encircles the middle of the figure surrounding its arms and trunk. These rattan loops are intended to hold decorative and totemic plants on occasions when the figure is exhibited." Poor
Event Date 29/6/1995
Author: maa
FM:102445
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