A very fine and early food dish carved with a stylized ancestor figure projecting from one edge.
A very fine and early food dish carved with a stylized ancestor figure projecting from one edge.
A very fine and early food dish carved with a stylized ancestor figure projecting from one edge. The back of the dish is well carved with a complex circuler motif highlighted with two ancestor faces. Boiken Plains, North Coast Sepik Region, PNG, Melanesia. Hard wood with a good patina of use and age. Probably carved with non-metal Tools. 52 x 39 cm. 19th/20th century. Ex Michael Hamson, Calif.
Provenance Early platters with human figures extending from the sides are rare amongst the Boiken. In this case the ancestor is represented by the upper half including the torso and head of the figure. A more complexe example with two figures is illustrated in the JOLIKA collection of Marcia & John Friede, Rye, NY (Friede, JA. et al (Ed.), NEW GUINEA ART: Masterpieces from the JOLIKA Collection of Marcia and John Friede, San Francisco, 2005, Vol. 1, fig.: 35, p. 60 / Vol 2, fig.: 35, p. 88.
