This is a wooden Asmat ancestor carving produced as a tourist piece in the second half of the twentieth century. It depicts a human male figure with bent knees and arms sitting atop a human face which is incorporated into the beaks of hornbill birds. The body of the figure features carved striations along its limbs and abdomen in a stylistic set of patterns. The figure also features a prominent phallic carving at the waist. The face is carved with very simplistic features typically found in Asmat art. The hands are raised to the sides of the shoulders spayed outwards with four fingers showing.
This piece is likely a piece produced for trade with outsiders, as indicated by several uncharacteristic features not commonly found in Asmat ethnographic art. The simplicity of the carved striations, the pose of the figure, and the carved divot in the chest are all signs of tourist production. The lack of paint across the entire body of the piece is not wholly unusual, but may be indicative of its intended use. The piece may have been produced to capitalize in interest in Asmat art during the late 1970s and 1980s, when collector institutions such as museums and private galleries began focusing much attention on acquiring art from indigenous cultures in Indonesia.
Colors: Black, Brown