Canoe Prow

Asmat or Marind-anim people, Western New Guinea, Indonesia, early 20th c.

Carved wood

22.5” l x 9.75” w x 6” h (57.15 x 24.77 x 15.24 cm)

Price: $1,800

 
 

From an old Dutch Catholic missionary collection, collected in the 1920s. The Dutch Catholic missions were active in southern Dutch New Guinea, with the south coast inhabited by the Asmat and Marind-anim being the focus of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MRC). An unusually early and archaic example. A section of the back side has some old insect damage (see bottom photo).