Search Results

Image 1 of 1

Cover for bone coffin, C-14 dating: 18th–19th century (inconclusive % probability)
Wood, traces of ochre and lime
83.8 x 22.9 x 5.1 cm (33 x 9 x 2 in.)
The Marcia and John Friede Collection, a Promised Gift to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco L05.1.243

Zoom this image

Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: "Collected on Biak Island by Ben Tursch in the 1960s. Ben and Anita Tursch Collection, Brussels." (Catalog #541, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 180.) PUBLICATIONS: 2005 - "Biak coffins usually contained only bones of ancestors, whereas skulls were kept in baskets (see de Clercq, 1893, pl. xxxvi, fig. 16, and Smidt, 2003, fig. 17) or fitted later on a korwar figure (see van Baaren, 1968, pl. 1-3, and 5; van Baaren in Greub, 1992, pl. 9, 10, 14, 19, and 20). However, for secondary burials in ledges, skulls were apparently deposited in coffins as well (as suggested by Solheim, 1985, fig. 183; see also Smidt, 2003, fig. 4). Occassionally some offerings were also included. As part of an archaeological survey conducted in 1975, Wilhelm Solheim located "cemetery sites near the village of Padwa on the south side of Biak" (Solheim, 1985, 147a, 148, figs. 178-79). Several skeletons had personal belongings of the deceased deposited nearby: "part of an outrigger canoe...broken pottery, beads, and other small artifacts...a few unbroken nineteenth-century European porcelain bowls and plates, fish spears, other badly rusted iron objects, and even on polished stone axe" (ibid., 147b). Solheim also located several coffins "used in secondary burials at the bottom of the limestone cliffs...[A] crocodile-adorned coffin lid...covered the bones of [a famous] warrior" (ibid., 149-50; fig. 181, cf. fig. 182) and another coffin lid "those of a woman greatly loved and admired by the people of the kampong...One coffin...was distinctly boat-shaped and echoes the shape of the men's houses once typical of the area" (ibid., 150a, 148, fig. 180). These coffins were made "for people considered to be special...a secondary burial ceremony was held, and their bones were placed in carved wooden coffins on a ledge..." (ibid., 147b). The bone coffin lids of the examples referred to by Solheim are quite different from the one shown here with more three-dimensional sculpting but lacking a rich ornamentation and having a general shape more oval than rectangular. The carvings here are a fascinating example of double irregular scroll images, which can be seen as a rendering of coral shapes or stylized faces, figures, and korwar heads." (Catalog #541, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 180.)

Related Keywords
coffin bone for Cover Francisco San Museums Arts Fine Gift Promised 180 p 2 Volume 2005 Friede John Marcia Jolika Masterpieces Art Guinea New 541 Catalog Brussels Anita 1960s Tursch Ben by Island Collected people Biak Oceania Papua West Indonesia object Ritual lime ochre traces Wood 0709200406050557 A361158 L05.1.243 AOA