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House post, C-14 dating: 1640–1820 (91.8% probability)
Wood, traces of pigment
256 x 43 x 23 cm (100 13/16 x 16 15/16 x 9 1/16 in.)
The Marcia and John Friede Collection, a Promised Gift to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco L05.1.16

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Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art EXHIBITIONS: 1985-88 - Tribal Art Centre, Basel, 1985-88, "Authority and Ornament," New York venue only. 1979 - National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979, "The Art of the Pacific Islands." PUBLICATIONS: 2005 - "This house post and the next are from an old Torembi ceremonial house, which was destroyed by fire. There is also a third badly damaged house post in the Canberra Museum and Gallery, Australia (Douglas Newton, personal communication). Originally, the post would have been more than twice its height, terminating in a curved receptacle to support the house's horizontal roof beam. The large figure on the post probably represents a primordial giant or principal ancestor. In Sepik creation mythology, the giant was killed and eaten by the two brothers who were the founding ancestors of the people in question, or of the clan which built the ceremonial house. The giant has been transformed into the protective spirit for the brothers' people. Philippe Peltier published an abstract of the Adjirab people's version of this myth in "Maison des hommes, maison des autres" (in S. Tcherkezoff and F. Marsaudon, Le Pacifique sud aujourd'hui, Identité et transformation culturelle, Paris, Editions du. C.N.R.S., 1997: 83 seq.). See objects 241, 253, and 262 for references to the protective giant. The figure's eye, composed of stacked discs, are a typical Sawos artistic device. Also in our collection from the same area and collected in 1908-10 on the Hamburg South Seas Expedition is a mask, with a beautiful painted design (pl. 229). A similar decoration may also have been applied to the house post in pre-contact times." (Catalog #227, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 118.) 1975 - Newton in Gathercole, Kaeppler, and Newton, 1975: 333, no. 22.73.

Related Keywords
post House Francisco San Museums Arts Fine Gift Promised Friede John Marcia Art Jolika people Sawos hamlet Ngeitebua village Torembi Oceania Province Sepik East Guinea New Sculpture pigment ochre yellow white red traces headdress tall including upwards thighs figure male form wood piece one Carved 0709200406050384 A360931 L05.1.16 AOA