IATMUL FLUTE ORNAMENT
Auction Closed
May 13, 03:32 PM GMT
Estimate
20,000 - 30,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
IATMUL FLUTE ORNAMENT
Middle Sepik River, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea
Wood, pigments
Height: 24 in (60.7 cm)
Harry A. Franklin, Beverly Hills, acquired by the 1960s
PUBLISHED
George R. Ellis, Oceanic Art: A Celebration of Form, San Diego, 2009, p. 95, cat. no. 75
San Diego Museum of Art, Oceanic Art: A Celebration of Form, January 31, 2009 - January 3, 2010
AN UNUSUAL IATMUL FLUTE FIGURE
By Philippe Peltier
This flute ornament depicts the figure of a man whose large round eyes are fixed into the distance. He seems to be balancing on the tips of his toes. The man supports a second head whose face is crossed by a bow, the end of which extends and is attached to the back of the first figure. This iconography is unusual. It condenses, however, the puzzling inventiveness of Sepik art, and demonstrates a mastery of shapes and rhythms that is rarely achieved in this type of object.