Lower Sepik River Figure, Malita

Lower Sepik River Figure, female malita ancestor figure, wearing fiber Pulpul skirt, nose ornament, fiber hair, typical Murik spiral design on shoulder blades.

According to the 2015 Myth + Magic, Art of the Sepik River exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia, small female images are unusual in the lower Sepik region. Whether this is a women's initiation rite figure or not is unclear, but Myth + Magic explains: "[female image] ... connected to women's initiation rites and represents a spirit being or ancestral spirit that gives power, has the ability to foretell and divine the future, ease a difficult pregnancy and determine the sex of unborn babies, as well as assisting in love magic. Young female initiates sleep nearby to them and they are kept for in small baskets in the rafters of their owner's house. The figures often require the attentions of their owners. if they are ignored they have the power to inflict minor illness upon members of the household."

Similar item was gifted by Louis Pierre Ledoux to the American Museum of National History - Division of Anthropology (80/8873)

Locale: Murik Lakes, Lower Sepik River
Country: Papua New Guinea
Date: 1936 or earlier
Material: Wood, fiber
Dimensions: H 9" / 23 cm
Technique: Carved

Provenance: Louis Pierre Ledoux Collection

Similar item:
American Museum of Natural History - Division of Anthropology 80/8873
https://anthro.amnh.org/anthropology/databases/common/image_dup.cfm?catno=80%2E0%2F%208873