This is a wooden Asmat ancestor carving that would typically adorn a place at the top of a ceremonial bis pole. The piece is largely unpainted, with remnants of red and white paint around the sides and front surfaces. The carving depicts two individuals, one standing upon the shoulders of the other. The bottom figure is (presumably) female and the top figure is male, based upon the phallic carving at the waist of the upper figure and the lack of such carving on the bottom figure. Both figures are holding the heads of hornbill birds in their hands, the beaks of which reach up and connect with their chest and upper lip. There is a crack in the piece which stretches from 6” from the bottom of the lower figure’s leg. Non-original alterations have been made to keep the piece together, as shown by two metal nails inserted into the wood around the crack. This is known to be non-original to the piece since Asmat carvings were always created in one piece without nails or other attachment devices.
Ancestral carvings such as this would adorn the tops of bis poles, ceremonial pieces which would be placed outside of the houses of recently deceased individuals. Bis poles and their adornments would display ancestors in chronological succession, representing all the members of a particular family which had since passed away. Poles such as these were placed outside of the deceased individual’s home until the individual had been avenged by headhunting. Death in Asmat traditional culture is never accidental; it is either the result of enemy headhunting raids or sorcery. Retaliatory headhunting is the remedy for imbalance in communities resulting from death. Once balance has been restored, bis poles are uprooted from their place and discarded in the rainforest so that the spirits which inhabit them may rejuvenate the sago trees.
Colors: Red, White, Brown