Lime Container, Sepik River

Lime Container or Stopper, carved in wood, with rattan and cassowary feather elements. Marked "36-105-70 / 456" by Ledoux. Cowry shell eyes, nose elongated to geometric design that flows into a stylized bird.

According to anthropologist Raymond Firth (1936), lime stoppers "... are made by the men who initiate novices into male secrets ...". In his book (see Similar Items below), he describes a very similar lime stopper "the carving here is of mwah, a totemic clan ancestor, the nose of which is prolonged into a snake. The eyes are small cowrie shells, the colors white, black, blue (Reckitt's) and a touch of red."

Locale: Lower Sepik River
Country: Papua New Guinea
Date: 1936 or earlier
Material: Bamboo, Wood, Rattan, Cassowary Feather
Dimensions: L 29"/ 74 cm x W 3"/ 7.5cm
Technique: Carved

Provenance: Louis Pierre Ledoux Collection

Similar items:
LOT 23, BINOCHE ET GIQUELLO, PARIS - 6 NOV. 2015
Art de Nouvelle-Guinée : Collection d'un amateur
https://www.artkhade.com/en/object/776djesK

Cambridge University Museum No. 35.17C, attributed to the [Gregory] Bateson Collection.
1936 Firth, Raymond. Art & Life in New Guinea. New York: The Studio Publications Inc., page 60-61.