A RARE WOOD ANCESTOR FIGURE, WEST TIMOR
A RARE WOOD ANCESTOR FIGURE, WEST TIMOR
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve
The Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger, entry from 2005:
“No. 230, SU 1974, West Timor”
Gallery price: EUR 1,100 or approx.
EUR 1,800 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing.
Indonesia, late 19th to early 20th century. Boldly carved, the anthropomorphic figure has a prismatic torso supported on two short, widely separated legs that define an arched opening above the long tapering shaft, and an oval head with abstracted facial features, including slanted eyes, a long angular nose, and an open mouth.
Provenance: Laurits Sunde, Denmark, by 1974. Jorgen Ruben, acquired from the above. In the Jorgen Ruben Collection for 52 years.
Laurits "Lau" Sunde (1910-1979) was an important Danish collector and dealer who played a pioneering role in introducing African art to Denmark and the wider Nordic region. He is particularly remembered for his interest in Yoruba art and culture, especially ere ibeji twin figures, which he promoted not only as works of art but also as expressions of the spiritual and ritual traditions of the Yoruba people.
Jorgen Ruben is a Danish art dealer and collector who has been active for over four decades and is highly regarded in the fields of Asian art and classical antiquities. Raised in an art-conscious family, Ruben was exposed early to both modern painting and European decorative arts. He began working in the art trade in the mid-1970s, first with Persian rugs and later with antiques, while travels to Iran and a visit to Persepolis sparked his lasting interest in antiquity. After studies in Copenhagen and London, he worked in England with a dealer in early furniture, before travelling widely in Latin America and Asia, deepening his knowledge of regional art and culture. In 1984 Ruben opened a gallery in Copenhagen dealing in Asian antiquities. He was later active in London and, in the early 2000s, operated the Brussels gallery Classic Art. Much of his career, however, has been conducted privately from home, selling by appointment to collectors, galleries, and museums. Ruben has always bought selectively, choosing only works that deeply engaged him, and often keeping them for many years until placing them with a collector he felt truly understood them.
Important Note: For essential information on the
Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger and provenance documentation please visit here: www.zacke.at/rubencollection_ledger
Condition: Very good condition with expected wear, minor age cracks, traces of weathering, occasional chips. The wood with a fine, naturally grown, dark patina.
Weight: 767.2 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 64.7 cm (excl. stand), 68.3 cm (incl. stand)
With an associated wood stand. (2)
Timor, at the eastern end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, is among the most culturally complex islands of the Indonesian archipelago. Its modern division between Indonesian West Timor and Timor-Leste grew from rival Dutch and Portuguese spheres associated with the island's lucrative sandalwood trade, yet the border cuts across much older cultural territories. West Timor is inhabited principally by the Atoni, or Atoin Meto, and the Tetun-speaking peoples of Belu and Malaka, together with Bunak, Kemak, and Helong communities. Rugged mountains and isolated valleys fostered strongly localized traditions, while trade, migration, and political alliances connected the island's peoples.
In traditional Timorese belief, ancestors were enduring guardians whose authority connected the living to lineage, land, and inherited custom. Carved images of founding ancestors, known as ai tos, took the form of statues or posts and were placed at village entrances, beside graves, on stone altar platforms, and at secluded forest sites. Prayers and offerings sought renewal, protection, and guidance in matters fundamental to communal life. Their frequently columnar and highly abstract forms reflect their dual character as ancestor images and enduring ritual markers.
Human imagery was not confined to freestanding sculpture: figures also crowned rice pestles and ceremonial staffs and appeared on house doors, containers, and mortuary spoons. Among the Atoni, ritual horn spoons were used at the farewell meal for the dead, when the departing soul was understood to assume the form of a bird. The elongated format of the present work reflects this close relationship between figure and post. By 1925, the Dutch artist and traveler W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp observed that Timorese sculpture had become rare and difficult to find; much older Timorese sculpture survives in relatively small numbers and often without full documentation of its origin or use.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related Timor wood ancestral statue, dated 19th-early 20th century, 111.1 cm high, in the Dallas Museum of Art, object number 2014.39. Compare a wood rice pestle with a similar figure at the top, dated 19th-early 20th century, the pestle 181 cm high, in the Yale University Art Gallery, loan number ILE2012.30.159.
Buyer's Premium
30%
A RARE WOOD ANCESTOR FIGURE, WEST TIMOR
This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve
The Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger, entry from 2005:
“No. 230, SU 1974, West Timor”
Gallery price: EUR 1,100 or approx.
EUR 1,800 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing.
Indonesia, late 19th to early 20th century. Boldly carved, the anthropomorphic figure has a prismatic torso supported on two short, widely separated legs that define an arched opening above the long tapering shaft, and an oval head with abstracted facial features, including slanted eyes, a long angular nose, and an open mouth.
Provenance: Laurits Sunde, Denmark, by 1974. Jorgen Ruben, acquired from the above. In the Jorgen Ruben Collection for 52 years.
Laurits "Lau" Sunde (1910-1979) was an important Danish collector and dealer who played a pioneering role in introducing African art to Denmark and the wider Nordic region. He is particularly remembered for his interest in Yoruba art and culture, especially ere ibeji twin figures, which he promoted not only as works of art but also as expressions of the spiritual and ritual traditions of the Yoruba people.
Jorgen Ruben is a Danish art dealer and collector who has been active for over four decades and is highly regarded in the fields of Asian art and classical antiquities. Raised in an art-conscious family, Ruben was exposed early to both modern painting and European decorative arts. He began working in the art trade in the mid-1970s, first with Persian rugs and later with antiques, while travels to Iran and a visit to Persepolis sparked his lasting interest in antiquity. After studies in Copenhagen and London, he worked in England with a dealer in early furniture, before travelling widely in Latin America and Asia, deepening his knowledge of regional art and culture. In 1984 Ruben opened a gallery in Copenhagen dealing in Asian antiquities. He was later active in London and, in the early 2000s, operated the Brussels gallery Classic Art. Much of his career, however, has been conducted privately from home, selling by appointment to collectors, galleries, and museums. Ruben has always bought selectively, choosing only works that deeply engaged him, and often keeping them for many years until placing them with a collector he felt truly understood them.
Important Note: For essential information on the
Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger and provenance documentation please visit here: www.zacke.at/rubencollection_ledger
Condition: Very good condition with expected wear, minor age cracks, traces of weathering, occasional chips. The wood with a fine, naturally grown, dark patina.
Weight: 767.2 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 64.7 cm (excl. stand), 68.3 cm (incl. stand)
With an associated wood stand. (2)
Timor, at the eastern end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, is among the most culturally complex islands of the Indonesian archipelago. Its modern division between Indonesian West Timor and Timor-Leste grew from rival Dutch and Portuguese spheres associated with the island's lucrative sandalwood trade, yet the border cuts across much older cultural territories. West Timor is inhabited principally by the Atoni, or Atoin Meto, and the Tetun-speaking peoples of Belu and Malaka, together with Bunak, Kemak, and Helong communities. Rugged mountains and isolated valleys fostered strongly localized traditions, while trade, migration, and political alliances connected the island's peoples.
In traditional Timorese belief, ancestors were enduring guardians whose authority connected the living to lineage, land, and inherited custom. Carved images of founding ancestors, known as ai tos, took the form of statues or posts and were placed at village entrances, beside graves, on stone altar platforms, and at secluded forest sites. Prayers and offerings sought renewal, protection, and guidance in matters fundamental to communal life. Their frequently columnar and highly abstract forms reflect their dual character as ancestor images and enduring ritual markers.
Human imagery was not confined to freestanding sculpture: figures also crowned rice pestles and ceremonial staffs and appeared on house doors, containers, and mortuary spoons. Among the Atoni, ritual horn spoons were used at the farewell meal for the dead, when the departing soul was understood to assume the form of a bird. The elongated format of the present work reflects this close relationship between figure and post. By 1925, the Dutch artist and traveler W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp observed that Timorese sculpture had become rare and difficult to find; much older Timorese sculpture survives in relatively small numbers and often without full documentation of its origin or use.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related Timor wood ancestral statue, dated 19th-early 20th century, 111.1 cm high, in the Dallas Museum of Art, object number 2014.39. Compare a wood rice pestle with a similar figure at the top, dated 19th-early 20th century, the pestle 181 cm high, in the Yale University Art Gallery, loan number ILE2012.30.159.
Buyer's Premium
30%
