A PAIR OF HARDWOOD ANCESTOR FIGURES

Description:

East-Indonesia, Moluccan Islands (Maluku), early 20th c.
L. 161-162 cm
Carved wood figures on octagonal posts with traces of black pigments. The figures are seated in a squatting position with their arms on their knees on pedestals with a jagged pattern(tumpal) on the front. This symbolizes the connections or the interpenetration between the upper, middle and underworld planes during the rituals, which is of crucial importance for the cosmology of all Austronesians.These figures are often seen as a pair and placed on the fields accordingly. They have a high head crest, which is often interpreted as an "ascending soul", but originally represented a hairstyle as a status symbol (as with the Batak Sumatras). The figures sit on the original pole, which is a rarity - this was usually sawn off for transport reasons. Such statues were placed around villages and fields, especially during initiation rites(rites de passage, according to Van Gennep) and festivals, to ward off bad influences. The anthropomorphic wooden figures represent great creator deities and founding ancestors of the respective clans or dynasties. Ancestor figures of this type are generally attributed to the Babar Islands or Leti, but cannot be located with certainty. However, the formal language clearly points to the southern Moluccas. The Moluccas are an Indonesian archipelago between Sulawesi and New Guinea. Administratively, the archipelago is divided into two provinces, Maluku (Southern Moluccas) and Maluku Utara (Northern Moluccas), which are known as the Spice Islands.
From an old German private collection, assembled since the 1950s - Minor wear, traces of pigments, partly only few chips
Lit.: Ballard, C. (2008): Oceanic Negroes: British anthropology of Papuans, 1820-1869. Canberra. - Van Engelenhoven, A. (2004): Leti, a language of Southwest Maluku. Leiden.