Minja" sculpture, Papua New Guinea. - Lot 334

Minja" sculpture, Papua New Guinea. Long, diamond-shaped board stylizing the shape of an anthropomorphized yam. Five cones (one broken) protrude from the body. A face decorates the widest part of the board, with pierced eyes and mouth. The forehead and skull are prominent at the top. A phallic nose falls from the skull. The entire sculpture is painted, a characteristic feature of Kwoma objects, which are profusely painted. This sculpture was used during ceremonies marking the cult of yams, a tuber essential to the community's diet. Numerous chips and breaks. Kwoma, Washkuk Mountains/Peilungunpo Mountains, Middle Sepik, East Sepik Province (Papua New Guinea). Dimensions: height 156 cm, width 33 cm. Estimated dating: Middle to last third of the 20th century Provenance : - Ex French private collection (Brittany) - Acquired from previous owner by Grégory Ronseaux Selective bibliography: * On the art of Sepik: - Philippe PELTIER (dir.), 2015, Sepik. Arts de Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée, Skira & Musée du Quai Branly * On Mindja and Kwoma art: - Ross BOWDEN, Yena. Art and Ceremony in a Sepik Society, Pitt Rivers Museum & University of Oxford Press, Oxford, 1983. - Renée LAMBERT-BRETIERE, " Savoir culturel et langue en danger : l'exemple du rituel de l'igname chez les Kwoma ", Journal de la Société des Océanistes, n°146 (2018) - A.J.P. MEYER, Art océanien, Könemann, Cologne, 1995 ; pp. 268-274 Corpus for comparison : - Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac (Paris): 72.1968.5.1