Carved Board With Spirit Figures

Sepik (Iatmul) region, Papua New Guinea
XXᵉ century

DESCRIPTION

Important arched wooden carved board depicting a stylized anthropo-zoomorphic figure with raised arms, inscribed in a structured composition with registers.

The face, dominated by large, deeply incised concentric eyes, evokes a spiritual or ancestral entity. The body, treated according to a rigorous geometric vocabulary (triangular motifs, incised networks, repetitive rhythms), is integrated into a peripheral décor composed of plant and symbolic elements, organized in the lower register.

The overall surface has a patina, revealing traces of ancient use and prolonged exposure in a ritual context.

ETHNOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS

This type of flat sculpture belongs to the artistic tradition of the Sepik River peoples, and more particularly to the Iatmul groups. These productions are characterized by a strong formal stylization, a symbolic reading of the human figure and a cosmological structuring in registers.

These panels could be associated with ceremonial architecture (houses of the spirits - haus tambaran) or serve as ritual objects linked to ancestral cults. The figure's posture, with arms raised, suggests a function of intercession or spiritual manifestation.

PROVENANCE

Jean-Pierre Dutilleux Collection
Object collected during field missions in Papua New Guinea.

PUBLICATION

This piece is the one reproduced in the reference work:
Jean-Pierre Dutilleux, TRIBES - The First People, Éditions Vilo.

This is not a similar model, but the published piece itself.

This same plate was exhibited

during the presentation "The First World"

MARKET NOTE

Published Sepik sculptures from identified field collections enjoy a special status on the international market. The combination of Dutilleux provenance, publication and iconographic quality positions this work in a superior category.

DIMENSIONS : 34 X 36 cm