Ancestral Figure (1800s): Art, History and Details
Ancestral Figure at the Cleveland Museum of Art: 1800s, painted wood with fiber and tapa cloth. Explore the work's context, creator attribution and collection history.
Ancestral Figure (1800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.
The work and its context
The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:
In the Sepik River region, village social and ceremonial life centers on the men's house. Ritual objects such as slit gongs, orators' stools, and flutes are stored there; the most sacred objects are kept hidden from women and children. Carved wooden figures, which probably represent ancestors, were preserved in the men's houses.
Object facts
- Title: Ancestral Figure
- Date: 1800s
- Culture: Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, Sepik River region, 19th century
- Type: Sculpture
- Technique: painted wood with fiber and tapa cloth
- Dimensions: Overall: 105.4 x 12.2 x 12.8 cm (41 1/2 x 4 13/16 x 5 1/16 in.)
- Collection: Oceanic Art
- Department: Oceania
- Accession number: 1971.150
Collection credit
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Thomas Munro
View the collection record
See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.
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