Search Results

Image 1 of 1

Cap from dema dance costume, 19th–early 20th century
Coconut shell, Abrus and Coix seeds, wood, orchid fiber, rattan
30.5 x 17.8 x 17.8 cm (12 x 7 x 7 in.)
The Marcia and John Friede Collection, a Promised Gift to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco L05.1.185

Zoom this image

Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art PUBLICATIONS: 2005 - "The Marind-anim (Marind people) were an exceptionally ferocious group. They were notorious for their headhunting raids, which they executed deep into the area of their eastern neighbors who lived across the border in British New Guinea and by whom they were "feared under the name Tugeri" (Kaeppler, Kaufmann, and Newton, 1997: 603; Wirz, 1922:6). Only after the Dutch established a patrol post among the Marind-anim at Merauke in 1902, did the raids cease (Blake, 1972: 1191b). They considered "all who did not belong to their tribe as enemies and in former times took upon themselves the sole task of exterminating these Ikom-anim, as they called all people who spoke another language" (Wirz, 1933: 6). This type of ceremonial headdress was probably part of a richly ornamented costume of an impersonator of a dema, a primeval creator being, during a dema-wir, a "ritual enactment of dema and myth" (van Baal, 1966: 193), when major phases of the creation myths were visualized (van Baal, 1966; see Wirz, 1922, vol. 4, pl. 17, fig. 6 for a somewhat differently shaped but related ornament; see also Kaufmann, 1980, pl. 10). The seeds in this object were restored by Frances Fleming, formerly of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York." (Catalog #505, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 171.)

Related Keywords
dance dema from Cap Francisco San Museums Arts Fine Gift Promised Friede John Marcia Art Jolika people anim Marind Oceania Papua West Guinea New Accessory Costume rattan fiber orchid wood seeds Coix Abrus shell Coconut 0709200406050285 A361100 L05.1.185 AOA