This is a wooden Asmat ancestral carving made of sago wood in the latter half of the twentieth century. It is a dark brown/black color and of moderate weight. It depicts two human figures, one standing atop the other’s shoulders. The lower figures is in a crouched position with his hands in front of his face. The feet of the upper figure are resting on the lower figure’ hands. The lower figure is male, and features a large semicircular wedge between his legs, used for supporting the piece in the mud. The upper figure is female, indicated by the stylistic protrusion feature on the chest. She has her hands extended downwards, clasping the head of a hornbill bird between them. The beak of the hornbill extends upwards and connects with the woman’s chin. The female figure features hair, while the male figure does not. Both figures have symmetrical body markings on the sides, chest, and back.
Carvings of ancestry figures play an extremely important role in Asmat society. They are often carved only for the festival which celebrates the creation of mankind at the hands of the Great Woodcarver Fumeripits, a foundational mythical figure at the heart of much of Asmat culture. Ancestor carvings are made from a single piece of wood taken from the trunk of a sago tree, and are carved in such a way that their base can be jammed into the soft mud to keep them standing upright. Figures such as this are representative of the core belief in Asmat culture that man is interchangeable with tree. After the festival for Fumeripits concludes, carvings are discarded in the rainforest so that the spirits of the dead can aid the sago trees in further growth.
Colors: Black, Brown
