Master Art

Korwar Area, Vogelkop Peninsula, Geelvink Bay, Indonesian New Guinea, Melanesia. Wood with a good patina of age and wear, blue trade cloth (possibly Indonesian). 23 cm. 19/20th century.

A korwar, or ancestral representation, showing the human figure with a stylized head over a roughly carved block set on a circular base. This type of figure, known as a block Korwar, is wrapped to exhibit only the face. The cloth represents the shroud covering the deceased in the local burial practice. The face is well carved and balanced with a strong, arched, pointed nose and flaring nostrils and a prognathic chin offering the mouth carved as two parallel lines. The eyes, under the arched brows show a typical curlicue ornament often found on sculpture of the area.