Large ornate drum, called "eme", West Papua (New Guinea). - Lot 323

Large ornate drum, called "eme", West Papua (New Guinea). The drum shaft adopts the classic Papuan hourglass shape. It is decorated with champlevé interlacing, characteristic of the Asmat style. A C-shaped motif with curved ends scans the shaft, resembling "bipane" nose ornaments (see, for example, Musée de Nouvelle-Calédonie (Nouméa), MNC 2004.4.3): this motif is present at the ends and around the handle. The central part, where the drum handle is located, is devoid of decoration. The arched grip is extended on either side by openwork panels. Each panel is built in two registers, one short, the other long. These panels and their respective registers are based on a variation of the same motif, an S-shaped (or Z-shaped) with a bird's head (hornbill?) at one end, beak open. When the motif is doubled (in the long registers), the bird heads face each other. A plant ligature (rattan?) encircles the top of the drum to tighten the skin. The split skin is made from varan skin (varanus salvadorii or varanus indicus?). Asmat, (coastal region, Casuarina coast?) West Papua (New Guinea). Dimensions: 120 cm high, 20 cm diameter. Estimated dating: Middle to last third of the 20th century Provenance : - Ex French private collection - Purchased by Grégory Ronseaux from above Selective bibliography: * On Asmat drums: - Jacques HOOGERBRUGGE & Simon KOOIJMAN, 70 jaar Asmat houtsnijkunst / 70 tahun seni pahat Asmat / 70 Years of Asmat Woodcarving, Volkenkundig Museum " Justinius van Nassau ", Breda, 1979 ; fig. 11 - Musée Territorial de Nouvelle-Calédonie, L'art Asmat, Musée Territoire de Nouvelle-Calédonie, 1999; pp. 44 - MUDEC (Milano, Italy), Eravamo cacciatori di teste. Riti, vita e arte delle popolazioni Asmat, 2018, MUDEC; p. 51 & pp. 1115-119 - Michael C. ROCKFELLER, 1967, The Asmat. Michael C. Rockfeller expeditions, Museum of Primitive Art, pp. 203-220 - Ignatius SUHARNO, Ukiran-Ukiran Kayu Irian Jaya: The Art of Woodcarving in Irian Jaya, Jakarta: Regional Government of Irian Jaya, and United Nations Development Programme, 1977 ; fig. 58-60. * On drums in Papua: Philippe PELTIER (dir), Ombres de Nouvelle-Guinée. Arts de la grande île d'Océanie dans les collections Barbier-Mueller, Somogy, Paris, 2006; pp. 322-351. Corpus for comparison : - Lot 291, Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris - May 13, 2022 - Museum of New Caledonia (Nouméa), MNC 90.14.4