Sawos Soup Dish Ex Bonisoli

A fine small kamana, or soup bowl used by initiated men. The decor is composed of two stylized human faces – probably male - representing important spiritual ancestors. The faces are separated by two stylized human effigies and geometric motifs. This bowl was collected before it was ever used as there are no traces of patination on the inside and the outside colors are still fresh. Koiwat Village (field collected by Ed Boylan at Kamanggabi Village), Sawos People, Middle Sepik, PNG, Melanesia. Fired and polychromed clay. 21,8 cm in diameter. 20th century. Inv. N° H115.

Provenance Ex coll. : Marisa Viaggi Bonisoli, Torino.
 

Literature: Ill.: OCEANIA N°8. FACES OF CLAY - THE POTTERY OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA. Galerie Meyer, Paris, 1991, N° 18.