Oceanic Sepik River Gable Figure Sculpture from Papua, New Guinea

A beautiful and large example of Oceanic art, this delightful woven mask would have been used on the gable of a middle Sepik meeting house. The wildly expressive form is accentuated ...

A large and powerfully carved Ceremonial Mask from New Guinea. In mineral paints with Cowrie Shell Eyes. Collected in Kaminabit, Middle Sepik Region, Papua New Guinea. The Mei is t...

Large woven painted basketry wall mask created in Blackwater Rivers area, Papua New Guinea. With open expressive mouth and mask fringed with feathers, striking mask that easily hang...

A fantastic hand-carved primitive wood totem sculpture/ figure from the Sepik River people (Ambunti and Wewak) of Papua New Guinea. This work, which features tusked ancestral spirit ...

Papua New Guinea: Talipun, Boiken, Sepik River Region  Northern Papua New Guinea, 20th Century  A fine example of the rich cultural heritage of Papua New ...

A well preserved Yam Ancestor mask professionally presented on a museum quality acrylic display stand. The mask was a classic tribal art piece from Abela...

Large dark reddish brown carved wood mask with underlying traces of red pigment, from New Guinea Sepik River Area. Strong downward looking expression, carved fringe edges. Signs of...

Antique Ethnic Artifact Sepik River Cassowary Bone from Papua New Guinea For many groups in Papua New Guinea, bone was an important medium for making tools of all types. This artifact is made from leg bone of a cassowary, a large, flightless, and extremely dangerous, bird. Cassowaries also play an important role in the mythology of groups in the Sepik River area. Though no longer used these bone artifacts are still used ceremonially. They often play important roles in male initiation and other rituals. They are also worn as personal adornment by tucking them into a band of braided fibers worn around the upper arm. Antique Ethnic Bone Cassowary Artifact with minimal carving and incised design confined to the joint end. A small hole has been drilled through from both sides of the top and presumably for the threading of a cord. The bone has been partially divided near the top and to form two prongs that project down the back of the dagger possibly allowing the user to wear is tuck into a waist band or belt. Origin Papua New Guinea Maprik Dist Area From the Art Collection of Marian and John Scott, acquired in 1962. Similar items are in display in the Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology. Purchased from the amazing private collection of Mark Lissauer who spent his life collecting niche ethnographic pieces. About Mark Lissauer: Mark Lissauer spent forty years travelling abroad for months at a time collecting ethnographic artefacts primarily from New Guinea and the islands of the West Pacific, and from Asia and Himalayan countries. Fluent in five languages and having in the course of business travelled to more than forty countries, Mark is well-known to museums and art-collectors around the world for his long career and his interesting and diverse collection of rare ethnographic material. Mark knows the origin and symbolism of each piece. Through extensive research and more than ninety trips around the globe, Mark familiarised himself with the traditions of the various cultures he visited in order to understand the meaning of each object to its region and tribe. His home has a specialist library and several rooms are filled with tribal carvings, textiles and ethnographica. He acquired his first tribal piece in 1948 during a business trip to Milne Bay, New Guinea, and has since documented the acquisition of some 35,000 items. Several thousands of these have been sold to important private collections and museums worldwide, including the Rockefeller Museum, the British Museum and the Musée National des Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie, now incorporated into the Louvre Museum. Estimator certificate of authenticity by Wayne Heathcote Tribal Art Dealer and Expert. Heathcote has a flash gallery in Brussels, where much of the tribal art business is centred, and is an expert at Sotheby's tribal art sale...

Small carved darkened wood bird faced mask with long nose/beak. Smaller squatting figure with curled arms carved on forehead. From Sepik River Area of Papua New Guinea. Signs of ...

Woven painted basketry yam helmet style mask from Papua New Guinea. Hollow woven form with traces of red and white pigments. Would have been put on top of a large yam as a part of th...