This is a wooden Asmat ancestor carving which would have originally formed the base of a bis pole. It is carved from a very light colored and porous sago wood and was originally painted in a combination of white and red pigments. Much of the white has worn off with time and exposure, leaving portions around the figure’s midsection, eyes, and arms. The red coloration is still present in the inset portions of the piece along the legs, arms, face, and in the wedge at the feet. There are small holes dotted throughout the piece, indicating that it was once victim of a powderpost beetle infestation. There are 11 other signs of large insect damage scattered around the piece as well, indicating unsafe previous conditions for the item. Much of the surfaces are very roughly hewn and there is considerable damage around the hands, eyes, feet, and top of the head. The placement of these suggests that the accompanying original pieces of the bis pole were separated from this piece at an unknown point in the past by someone other than the original artist.
The wedge at the bottom of this piece indicates that it served as the bottom portion of a bis pole, which would have secured the entire pole in the soft mud of an Asmat village. The individual featured in the piece is therefore likely an either close or distant ancestor of the deceased for whom the pole was carved. Bis poles were erected for funerary ceremonies or for occasions of ancestor reverence, as both are very common in Asmat culture. They were carved in the image of ancestors and were built so that the spirits of the ancestors could perform a mock battle outside the home of the deceased while other members of the community performed a headhunting raid in order to resolve the imbalance caused by the death. Once the balance was restored, bis poles and other carvings which accompanied it were often discarded in the rainforest in order for the spirits which inhabited them to rejuvenate the sago trees.
Colors: Brown, White, Red