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A WOOD CANOE PROW CARVED AS A CROCODILE HEAD, IATMUL PEOPLE, MIDDLE SEPIK RIVER
奥地利
04月17日 下午5点 开拍 /15天1小时
拍品描述
Papua New Guinea, 19th to early 20th century. Superbly carved, the elongated snout curving gracefully, its scaly surface and formidable teeth minutely rendered, with a pair of bulging eyes projecting upward. The upper head decorated with a finely incised abstract anthropomorphic visage, marked by oval eyes, an elongated nose, and a subtle mouth line.Provenance: Ulrich Kortmann, Dortmund, Germany. A private collection in the Netherlands, acquired from the above. Ulrich Kortmann (1952-2023) was a German collector and dealer specializing in tribal art, with a particular focus on objects from Oceania, including Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Indochina. In 1985, he founded Tribal Art Kortmann in Dortmund, one of the few German galleries dedicated to traditional non-European art. Kortmann's engagement with tribal art began in the early 1980s during extensive travels throughout Oceania. Encounters with indigenous art in Papua New Guinea inspired him to assemble a notable collection, combining pieces acquired during his travels with works sourced from museums, private collections, and auctions. His gallery in Dortmund reflected this lifelong dedication, presenting a broad range of masks, figures, weaponry, and ceremonial objects that illustrate the artistic traditions and material cultures of Pacific and Southeast Asian communities.Condition: Good condition with expected wear, signs of weathering, age cracks and splits, obvious losses, small chips, remnants of pigment. The wood with a rich, naturally grown, dark patina.Weight: 4.2 kg (excl. stand), 7.5 kg (incl. stand)Dimensions: Length 108.2 cmRaised on a bespoke fitted metal stand. (2)Crocodiles played a central role in the art and culture of the Iatmul people. According to one Iatmul creation account, an ancestral crocodile was responsible for forming the land. In the beginning, the earth was covered by a primordial ocean, into whose depths the crocodile dived. Reaching the bottom, it brought up on its back a load of mud, which became an island when it surfaced. From that island, the land grew and hardened, but it continues to rest on the back of the ancestral crocodile, which occasionally moves, causing earthquakes.Both now and in the past, the prows of most sizeable canoes have been carved, as here, in the form of a crocodile. The scale of the present work indicates that it probably adorned a large war canoe, capable of holding from fifteen to twenty-five men. These large canoes, hollowed from a single massive log, were also used for trading and fishing expeditions. Although canoes are no longer used in warfare, contemporary Iatmul carvers continue to make large examples for use in trade and general transportation.Literature comparison:Compare a closely related wood canoe prow in the form a crocodile head, Iatmul people, Middle Sepik River, Papua New Guinea, dated 19th to early 20th century, 181.6 cm long, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 1978.412.705. Compare a closely related wood canoe prow in the form of a crocodile head, Iatmul people, Middle Sepik River, Papua New Guinea, dated 20th century, 80.3 cm long, in the Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, object number 2018.10.6Auction result comparison:Type: Closely relatedAuction: Christie's Paris, 22 November 2017, lot 1Price: EUR 6,250 or approx. EUR 8,000 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing: Canoe prow figure in the shape of a crocodile head, Iatmul people, MiddlesepikExpert remark: Compare the closely related crocodile form and manner of carving. Note the slightly smaller size (98.4 cm).

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拍品估价:500 - 1,000 欧元 起拍价格:500 欧元  买家佣金:

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