Kerewa Skull Rack, Goaribari Island, Papua New Guinea

Kerewa Skull Rack, Goaribari Island, Papua New Guinea
agiba
height 46in (116.8cm)

Provenance
Field collected by Dick Randolph, a crocodile hunter, on the Turama River circa 1960
Richard Aldrige, Australia
Private Collection, Chicago
Bonhams, 11 November 2010, Lot 6063
European Private Collection

Agiba were receptacles of sanctity, imbued by the skulls of enemies and animals suspended on vertical hooks inside the figure. Agiba were kept inside the men's houses and each clan had its own. Douglas Newton comments, "There can be no doubt of their importance and sanctity." (Newton, Douglas, The Art of the Papuan Gulf, The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1961)