16 -‐ 25 March 2012 Maastricht
25th anniversary
Galerie Meyer O c ea n ic A rt & E sk im o A rt
stand 432
Twenty five years is a long time to maintain the level that TEFAF has become famous for. No other selling event in the art world can match TEFAF for the quality, the diversity and the rarity of the art works that are offered to an unbelievably large group of assiduous and knowledgeable visitors and clients.
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TEFAF has a history of innovation - it creates the standard for all other fairs - and one of the most important aspects of the fair is the stringent “vetting” of the exhibited pieces by a worldwide committee of recognized experts and specialists. TEFAF is built on the intransigent search for quality and authenticity and on the understanding that the fair is organized by dealers for collectors. This and many other notable features make the yearly event a unique occasion for the dealers to come together and display their best. Therefore, as an exhibitor, I have a tremendous level of responsibility to carry the torch - and keep the flame bright. I was a regular visitor to the fair already twenty years ago. When I then applied to join the fair I did not expect a rapid positive response, yet that came only a few months later. One day in October of 1997 while I was exhibiting in New York at an art fair my wife called from Paris early in the morning to wake me and to say that she had both good and bad news. Basically an optimist, I asked for the good news first and was delighted & honored to find out that I was invited by TEFAF to be an exhibitor. The bad news, my wife delivered in the same excited rush, was that I now had to find the money and the pieces to do the fair - and very quickly as it opened in March of 1998 - just four short months away. And here we are in 2012 celebrating our 15th year at TEFAF ! Every year brings new excitement, new pieces, sometimes a new location in the fair or a change in the floor-plan of the stand - and this excitement for the forthcoming year begins basically the very day we close the fair - as we are already thinking about next time. In 2010 I took advantage of the new decade to innovate and offer thematic mini-exhibitions on my stand. This will continue in the future. However, 2012 is a special anniversary year so I take the opportunity to open up a new permanent section devoted to the archaic art forms of the early Eskimo peoples of the Great North. I have been collecting this art privately for many years and derive great enjoyment from the “monumental miniature” masterpieces that the Eskimo carved in the era between 500 BC to 1800 AD. With regard to Oceanic Art, I am bringing to the fair a number of pieces of great interest both for their esthetic values as well as for their remarkable early provenance. I am particularly pleased to present the powerful Marada head from New Ireland (N° 25) as I have waited 24 years to own it. This expressive and massive carving is the “twin brother” of the one I previously owned and published. Both heads are carved by the same hand and were individually collected respectively just prior and just after the turn of the 20th century. The present head has been previously published with erroneous dimensions making it one third smaller than the one in my book (Meyer, 1995). This has now been corrected and both heads are of identical height and expression; carved by the same artist, and quite possibly were used together in a Marada display.
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Provenance and quality wise, the two incredibly rare dance wands from the Tami Islands (N° 19 & 20) are hard to beat. Both were collected by Dr. Manfred Nahm on-board the S.M.S. Möwe in 1898/1899. A few similar examples from the Ethnographic Museum in Budapest were published in 1961 but they are, to my eye, not of the same outstanding elegance as the Dr. Nahm examples. The royal Lei Niho Palaoa necklace from Hawaii (N° 1) is another wondrous work of art. The geometry of the whaletooth hook with its bevels, curves, flares, angles, dips and crests forming an essential and sensuous form has an astounding visceral attraction. Only royals could wear this regal emblem mounted on a necklace of braided human hair and tradition holds that this example was once given as a royal token to the famous American missionary Reverend Elias Bond who worked on the Big island of Hawaii in the 1850/60’s. Reestablishing provenance and discovering new information on pieces is an essential part of my business. Sometimes it is the pure luck of finding the piece in a book while looking for something else - mostly it is a time consuming endeavor but one which, when successful, brings great satisfaction. Sometimes the results are immediate other times it takes years to finally put it all together. I have finally found one of my father’s missing photographs showing the important orators-pulpit on his canoe shortly after he collected it in a Sepik River village in 1956/1957 (N° 16). This now confirms the collection date and history for this piece. One bit of research that proved fruitful was finding the page in the Pitt-Rivers inventory that records the Fijian war-club received as a gift in 1882 from the first Governor of Fiji, Sir Arthur Gordon (N° 5). I was also pleased to find my seated iniet figure (N° 26) in Thurnwald’s psychological study of the people of the Bismarck islands of 1913. And of course there is the added touch of having the amazingly delicate Admiralty Island lime spatula (N° 22) collected by the La Korrigane expedition in 1934/1936 illustrated in the Leenhardt of 1947. I hope that you enjoy our fair and that you will find something to acquire for your collection - for that is what TEFAF is all about...Collecting !!
Anthony JP Meyer
Galerie Meyer O c ea n ic A rt & E sk im o A rt
Early Oceanic Art &
Archaic Eskimo Art
Hawaii Marquesas Islands Society Islands Fiji Vanuatu Solomon Islands New Guinea Admiralty Islands New Ireland New Britain Bering Strait A N T H O N Y J P M E Y E R
1 7 R u e d e s B e a u x -‐ A r t s P a r i s 7 5 0 0 6 F r a n c e TEL: + 33 1 43 54 85 74 FAX: + 33 1 43 54 11 12 GSM: + 33 6 80 10 80 22 ajpmeyer@gmail.com www.galerie-‐meyer-‐oceanic-‐art.com
Governor Boki of Oahu and his wife Liliha. by John Hayter, c. 1824
1 A Lei Niho Palaoa, or necklace worn only by nobility and the royal families. The beautifully beveled hook pendant is carved of spermwhale tooth and the necklace itself is composed of a continuous strand of square-plaited human hair, mounted with oolona fiber (probably hibiscus for the later neck-string). Hawaii, Polynesia. 26,5 cm w/o string (hook 10,3 cm). 18th/19th centuries. Ex Norman P. Hurst, Cambridge; A private collection, Hawaii. This Lei Niho Palaoa is traditionnally believed to have been given to A.B.C.F.M. missionaries Ellen and Reverend Elias Bond (1813/1896) working at Kohala on the Big Island in Hawaii around the 1850’s. Pub. : ART & ARTIFACTS of POLYNESIA, Anne D'Alleva, Hurst Gallery, Cambridge, Mass. 1990, fig 67, p. 56/57.
High chiefess Mele (Mary) Kaupoko (Padeken) wearing a Lei Niho Palaoa with a thick braided hair necklace in the mid 1890’s.
2 A crown or pa’e kaha composed of seven, deeply carved plates (6 are turtle-shell and one doublefaced plate is made of thick coconut shell) interspaced with 8 sections of conch-shell mounted on a woven and plaited coconut fiber headband. The band is profusely decorated with European pasteglass shirt-buttons over-layed with turtle-shell motifs as well as two lateral ovals of turtle-shell and mother-of-pearl. The 7 main plates are each engraved with a large central tiki flanked in most cases by smaller tiki to either sides of the shoulders. Marquesas Islands, Polynesia. 19th century. 46 cm. Ex Patrice Bredel, Tahiti c. 1960/70; private collection, France. Pub. : "L'ART ANCESTRAL DES ILES MARQUISES - TE HAA TUPUNA KAKIU NO TEHENUA ENANA". Collective work : N. Berthelier, P. Bihouée, D. Blau, H. Guiot, AJP Meyer, P. & M-N. Ottino-Garanger, C. Stéfani. Exhibition catalogue on the arts of the Marquesas Islands at the Musée des Beaux-Arts (june/october 2008). Musée des Beaux-Arts, Chartres, 2008, p. 60. Crowns of this type have been systematically shown to be worn upside down in the litterature ever since the late 19th century. However, these crowns were surely worn in pre-contact times exactly as they were made to be - with the plates and tiki upright. An unusual background image here is the photograph of Thor Heyerdahl on Fatu Hiva in 1936 wearing an early crown he discovered there on the island - and he is wearing it in the correct manner.
3 A large stilt-step with a powerful and “cubist” Tiki showing full body tatoo including magnificent spirals on the buttocks and large glyphs on the cheeks to both sides of the mouth. Nuku-Hiva (?), Marquesas Islands, Polynesia. 40 cm. 18th/19th century. Ex Pierre Langlois. A label on the rear in Langlois’s handwriting states : “Pédale d’échasse, Polynésie, Iles Marquises, Tribu des Teus”. Capitaine de Corvette Collet, the second in command on La Reine Blanche, Admiral Dupetit-Thouar’s flag ship during the annexation of Tahiti and the possesion of the Marquesas Islands in 1841, records after having spent two years on Nuku-Hiva, that he collected many items from the Marquesas tribes of the Tëus, Taïvas, and the Happas.
4 A large oval tii, or deified ancestor. The figure is represented in a highly stylized anthropomorphic form with only the head indicated with small indents for the eyes and mouth. Society Islands, Polynesia. Hard alveolate and variegated grey lava with a patina of age and weathering. 63,5 cm. 19th century or earlier. From the family collection of several generations of doctors in the Society Islands in the mid 20th century.
5 A rare form of war-club known as vunikau-bulbulisevaro. The head is decorated with 24 raised oval studs organized in 6 staggered registers of increasing size from the tip towards the shaft. The grip is carved with classic zigzag motif and the butt is rounded off. The shaft is wrapped with two-tone coconut fiber sinnet and pandanus leaf bindings. Fiji, Polynesia. Extremely hard fiberous wood & fiber. 109,5 x 7 Ø cm. 18th/19th century. Ex: Sir Arthur Charles Hamilton Gordon, first Governor of Fiji (1875 to 1880); gifted to Lt. General Augustus PittRivers in 1882 who subsequently returned it to Gordon. Ex: Max Willborg, Stockholm & London; Private collection, Sweden; J.P. Willborg, Stockholm. There are two paper labels referring to Sir Arthur Gordon and the number 76240 (Max Willborg) is painted in white on the butt. Described on page 62, Vol. 1 of the “Second” collection, Pitt Rivers inventory Oxford. Sir Arthur Charles Hamilton Gordon (1829-1912) in 1882 was the donor of the largest number of objects to the Pitt Rivers collection totaling 165 pieces in all. There is, however, some doubt about the exact number that remained in the Second Collection as it is noted in the catalogue that not all the objects illustrated there were retained and Gordon took some back. All but five of the objects came from his time in Fiji (1875-80), and war-clubs dominate the collection, forming almost two-thirds of it.
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6 A very fine war-club with a “fishtail� head and its original banana fiber wrist thong. Malekula Island (?), Vanuatu, Melanesia. Wood. 79 cm (w/o wrist rope). Collected in the field between 1888 and 1895 by Dr. Philippe Francois (1859-1908), a medical doctor and naturalist. Sold at auction : Tajan, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 13/12/2002, Lot 32. See an identical example in the University Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Cambridge, UK collected in the 18th century on the Cook Voyages.
7 A ceremonial food bowl for the consumption of laplap or nalot, vegetarian pudding. A dish of this quality and form would be the prize possession of a Big Man, a man of high grade in the structure of the secret societies on Santo Island. The finial represents the highly stylized lower jawbone of a pig with full circle tusks. The cobble stone effect on the tip of the finial is related to several architectural elements' – notably the tops of the main support posts of the nakamal (ceremonial meeting or cult house) near Talamacco on Santo. A series of very archaic sacred stones, possibly pounders, are also recorded from the area with the same cobble stone motif. Santo Island, Vanuatu, Melanesia. Hard wood with white paint inscription on reverse. 19th century or earlier and carved with non metal tools. 61,8 x 33 cm. Ex: Bernard et Bertrand Bottet, Nice, N° 37.
8 A war-club/staff Tindalo – These objects or sculptures represent the spirit of an important dead man who, in his lifetime, possessed great mana or power. Tindalo were traditionally placed in sacred spots associated with the person. This example has the distinctive Choiseul island style motifs and a full figure ancestor representation is carved on both sides. It is interesting to note that the ears, hands and feet of the figure are shown as barava (carved shell wealth-items). Choiseul Island, Solomon Islands, Melanesia. Wood with lime in-fill and black pigment. 148 cm. 19th century or earlier. Formerly in the collections of the Pères des Sacrés Cœurs Mission Museum, Sarzeau, Brittany. See an identical example from the collection of Rev. Alfred Penny, Stoke-upon-Trent, and described as an agricultural Tindalo published in Edge-Partington, J., AN ALBUM OF THE WEAPONS, TOOLS, ORNAMENTS, ARTICLES OF DRESS ETC. OF THE NATIVES OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS, 1895, (page 225, VOL. I of the reprint).
9 A canoe paddle called noa or nee carved with a high relief decor composed of a pair of spread human legs over an inverted stylized fish. The motifs above the legs are identical to those found on the classic tema, or kapkap from the island group. These triangular motifs might represent fish bodies as on the kapkap, however they might be also the stylized rendering of the human figures ribcage. Collected at Nimbelowi Village, east from Cape Mendona, Ndende Island, Santa Cruz Islands, Para-Polynesia. 176,5 cm. 19th/20th century. Collected by the La Korrigane expedition, 1934/1936. Formerly on deposit to the Musée de l’Homme, (N° D.39.3.1928). Sold at the La Korrigane Auction : Collection Océanienne du Voyage de la Korrigane, Hôtel Drouot - Paris, Maurice & Philippe Rheims - auctioneers, Jean Roudillon - expert, 4th & 5th December 1961, part of lot 234. Ex: Marisa Viaggi Bonisoli, Torino. Pub.: Meyer, Anthony JP: OCEANIC ART / OZEANISCHE KUNST / ART OCEANIEN. Könemann Verlag, Köln. 1995, fig. 693, p. 599. An identical example collected on the same expedition is in the collections of the Musée du Quai Branly N° 71.1960.0.6 X Oc.
Étienne de Ganay & his sister Régine van den Broek d'Obrenan Charles van den Broek d'Obrenan & Monique de Ganay Jean Ratisbonne
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A lime spatula carved with a stylized ancestor figure of the “oral protusion� typology. This refers to the extension that descends from the face to the chest of the figure representing the tongue or possibly mucus projected from the nose and mouth of a sorceror at his death. Lime spatula were not only instruments for chewing betel but were also objects of great social value and importance and were often used in sorcery. Massim Area, East PNG, Melanesia. Hard word (ebony or kwila). 22,8 cm. 19th century. Ex: Bernard et Bertrand Bottet, Nice.
A large lime spatula with a superbly carved seated ancestor figure. The nose and ears still retain fiber attachments previously adorned with shell beads. The arms, legs, belt & skull-cap are decorated with finely carved motifs. Massim Area, East PNG, Melanesia. Hard word (ebony or kwila). 37,5 cm. 19th century. Ex: private collection, Amsterdam.
12 A mask representing an ancestor spirit. Lower Sepik River, PNG, Melanesia. Wood, cane and pigments. 34,5 cm. 19th/20th century. Ex: SVD Mission Museum (Societas Verbi Divini - Society of the Divine Word), Haus der VÜlker und Kulturen, Sankt Augustin, Germany, Inv. N° 71.10.390. Collected in the field by a missionary of the order. Ex: Mia & Loed van Bussel, Amsterdam (Z.018.); private collection, the Netherlands.
13 A lime container with its original ornate stopper carved in the form of a crocodile head surmounted by an elongated rooster. Iatmul language group, Middle Sepik River, PNG. Wood, bamboo, fiber & pigment. 65,8 cm. 19th/20th century. An old paper label in German script with fragmentary text indicates the words “Kalk” (lime) and “Kar----” (probably Kararau Village).
14 An erroded ancestral figure representing a hunting and war spirit, or aripa. The circular rim around the face, the pointed eyes, nose, and the forehead stud are unusual and may indicate that this figure is not from the Inyai village caves as most figures of this type are described to be - but from another village with a distinct stylistic identity as yet undefined. Ewa language group (?), Korewori River, Middle Sepik River, PNG, Melanesia. Wood. 117 cm. 15th to 17th century (C-14 test). The caves of the Korewori (or Karawari) were discovered, while prospecting for hard wood trees in the late 1960s, notably by Ivan Solomon (Salomon) working for a sawmill in Angoram which was managed by Nils Madsen. Many carvings were acquired by Madsen who died shortly thereafter in a small-plane crash adding to the aura of mystery that still surrounds these remarkable art-works. It is loosely estimated that there were some three hundred if not six hundred wood carvings found in the sacred rock shelters and limestone caves in the vicinity of Inyai, Ratoma and Danyig Villages. The Basel Ethnographic Museum - today the Museum der Kulturen - was able to acquire 85 pieces by public subscription in 1971 from the dealer Maurice Bonnefoy of D’Arcy Galleries in New York. Bonnefoy had published many of his pieces in the groundbreaking catalogue “The Caves of the Karawari” in 1968. Other examples of Ewa art are in the JOLIKA collection (Marcia & John Friede) in the De Young Museum, San Francisco; the Metropolitain Museum of Art, New York; the Museum der Weltkulturen, Frankfurt and private collections worldwide. Carbon-14 tests have shown that the carvings can be as early as the 10th to 11th century AD although most date from the 14th through to the 19th century.
15 A split peg for fastening sheets of sago palm bark together into troughs to wash the flour out the pounded pith of the sago palm. Sago flour is the main staple food in many parts of New Guinea. The peg is decorated with a superbly carved ancestor face wearing a lofty wagnen or initiates crest above the head. Wosera People, Southern Abelam, Middle Sepik River, PNG, Melanesia. Wood & cane. 37,3 cm. 19th/20th century. Pub: Meyer, Anthony JP.: OCEANIC ART / OZEANISCHES KUNST / ART OCEANIEN. Kรถnemann, Kรถln. 1995. Fig. 312, page 282.
16 An important “orators stool” or teket carved as a large, powerful, standing male figure with a well developed musculature. The plateau or “seat” which juts out from the figure's back is supported by a pair of arched legs each carved, in high relief, with a head-to-toe crocodile. The "orators stool" is more aptly described as a debating pulpit or lecturn. It is amongst the most important and prestigious treasures of the Middle Sepik cultures. The figure represents the wagen, or central spirit - the primeval creator. Iatmul People, Middle Sepik River, PNG, Melanesia. Wood, cowrie-shells, and red, white and black pigment. 121 cm. 19th/20th century. Field collected by Oscar Meyer circa 1956/57. Two views of the piece show it in transit on his expedition's cargocanoe on Chambri Lake. Ex: Kleinmann, a Parisian modern-art dealer; sold at his estate sale at Hotel Drouot auction house circa 1970 by Maurice Rheims & Jean Roudillon. Acquired by Dr. Maillant, Neuilly sur Seine; sold in his estate auction, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 1993. Pub: Meyer, Anthony JP.: OCEANIC ART / OZEANISCHES KUNST / ART OCEANIEN. Könemann, Köln. 1995. Fig. 233, page 223.
17 A warrior’s pectoral ornament composed of 11 white cowrie shells (Ovula ovum) mounted on a woven fiber center. Lumi Area, Torricelli Mountains, PNG, Melanesia. Shell, trade cloth & fiber. 23 cm. 19th/20th century. Pub: Meyer, Anthony JP.: OCEANIC ART / OZEANISCHES KUNST / ART OCEANIEN. Könemann, Köln. 1995. Fig. 352, page 316/317.
18 An extremely rare form of kapkap or chest ornament with the turtle-shell overlay carved in the form of a cross with 4 stylized lower pig mandibles showing full grown circular tusks. The full circle tusk symbol is known in the Tami region as yabo. Rai Coast to Huon Gulf (possibly Tami Islands), PNG; Melanesia. Turtle shell, shell (melomelo) & trade cloth. 13,8 cm. 19th/20th century. Ex: Herz-Jesu-Mission in Hiltrup/M端nster (Sacred Heart ).
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Dr. Manfred Nahm and officers on a cruise to Manila
Two dance wands or staffs in the form of stylized clubs terminating with a human head. The example on this page is unusual in that the head is rounded and the features are carved in low relief with several areas cut through. The eyes are in the stylized form of an angelfish. The one on the previous page is similar to recorded types with a distinctive, more naturalistic style that is visually highly successful. Tami Islands, Huon Gulf, PNG, Melanesia. Wood with native pigments. left : 32,7 cm; right : 43,9 cm. 19th century. Collected in the field by Ship’s Doctor Manfred Nahm, MD (1867–1933) of the German Imperial Navy on board the surveying vessel S.M.S. MÖWE between 1898 and 1899 on a voyage in colonial German New Guinea. By descent through the family. The collection brought back to Germany by Dr. Nahm was displayed and partially photographed in the Alterstums-Verein in the city of Heidenheim in 1901. Subsequently Dr. Nahm, through his brother August, gave most of it to the Linden Museum in Stuttgart. Human and avian form dance wands of this type and quality are extremely rare and the few published examples are mostly those in the collections of the Ethnographic Museum in Budapest, Hungary. See the examples in ART IN NORTH-EAST NEW GUINEA by Tibor Bodrogi and published by The Hungarian Academy of sciences, Budapest in 1961, fig.'s 47, 48, 49 pages 83, 84.
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21 A very unusual ceremonial food bowl in the form of a stylized dog. While several other examples of canine representations are known from the Admiralty Islands they are usually more naturalistic, highly embellished and stand on the dogs extended legs. The extreme simplicity of the zoomorphic attributes coupled with the flat bottom and flat sides might indicate a more western localization or at the very least a Wuvulu or Hermit island influence. Admiralty Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, PNG, Melanesia. Wood. 69,3 cm. 19th/20th century. Ex Ernst Beyeler collection, Basel.
22 A lime spatula carved with a delicate and naturalistic human figure holding onto the finial. The figure stands above and on four pointed dentate elements. Admiralty Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, PNG, Melanesia. Wood with lime & betel-nut deposit. 33,7 cm. 19th/20th century. Collected in the field by the La Korrigane expedition 1934/1936, however this spatula was not part of the Musée de l’Homme deposit and thus does not have an inventory number. Ex private collection Étienne & Monique De Ganay. Sold at Drouot, Audap-Godeau-Solanet & Jean Roudillon, 1989, lot 38. Ex Jacques Kerchache. Pub.: ARTS DE L’OCEANIE by Maurice Leenhardt, Les Editions du Chêne, Paris 1947, fig. 25.
Étienne de Ganay & his sister Régine van den Broek d'Obrenan Charles van den Broek d'Obrenan & Monique de Ganay Jean Ratisbonne
23 A fighting dagger with the handle modeled as a stylized human head with the head of a crocodile ending as the pommel. The flaked obsidian blade juts from the top of the ancestor head. Admiralty Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, PNG, Melanesia. Wood, obsidian (volcanic glass), parinarium nut paste, and pigments. 19th/20th century. 27 cm. Given to the La Korrigane Expedition of 1934/1936 by Mr. Froggart, the director of the Rabaul Museum for delivery to the Musée de l’Homme as a gift. The remains of Museum of Rabaul inv. N° 118 are visible on the reverse side of the blade. Musée de l’Homme deposit inv. N° D.39.3.607 in white paint on the handle. Sold at the La Korrigane Auction : Collection Océanienne du Voyage de la Korrigane, Hôtel Drouot - Paris, Maurice & Philippe Rheims auctioneers, Jean Roudillon - expert, 4th & 5th December 1961, part of lot 211. Ex: Dr. Bernard & Jacqueline Villaret, Tahiti and Paris. The inventory card from the Musée de l’Homme indicates : “N° 1232 de collecte (peint en rouge) et n°118 du musée de Rabaul (peint en blanc). Extrémité de lance petelo. La partie noire est en obsidienne, betelam, provenant de l’île de Lou. La poignée est faite en bois, recouvert de gomme, alit, provenant d’un fruit et peinte en rouge et noir. Les interstices sont remplis de chaux faite avec du corail pilé. Une tête humaine et une tête de crocodile, buai, sont sculptées dans la gomme. Ce travail a été exécuté par des indigènes de la grande Amirauté qui achètent l’obsidienne aux indigènes de l’île Lou. Cet objet fut donné par Monsieur Froggart directeur du musée de Rabaul à Monsieur van den Broek.“
24 A small master-carver adze-handle, or dellei. The figure carved on the heel is a male ancestral representation wearing a coif shaped like a European hat. The handle which is slotted for a stone blade is incised with zig-zag decor representing a crocodile maw and the butt is decorated with a three-dimensional crocodile. Pak Island (?), Admiralty Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, PNG, Melanesia. Wood with lime and ocher. 43,7 cm. 19th/20th century.
25 This strongly carved head was originally stuck into the trunk of a wild banana tree to form a stylized humanoid figure called marada. The figure was used in rituals relating to initiation, rain making, and fertility. Fisoa Village, North East Coast, New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago, PNG, Melanesia. Wood (Alstonia) with red, black and white paint, and shell (turbo marmoratus operculum). 73,5 cm. 19th/20th century. Field collected by Dr. Lau at Fisoa Village in 1909 (inv. N° 269). Sold to Galerie M.L.J. Lemaire, Amsterdam, 1951. Sold to the Ethnographic Museum, Rotterdam in 1951 (inv. N° 31879). Deaccessioned to Loed van Bussel in 1974. Offered at Sothebys, London, June 1984. Ex: Helen & Robert Kuhn; Leon & Fern Wallace, Los Angeles.
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This head is of the same size, and is by the same artist who carved the identical example published in Meyer, 1995, fig. 384, pages 350/351, from the collection of John Morisson, Singleton Australia prior to 1900. Marada heads were one of the only types of ritual carving that were not discarded at the end of the Malagan cycle. These heads were retained and subsequently reused in the following events.
26 A seated iniet figure, or pokopoko ingiat, in the form of a stylized humanoid. Tolai People, possibly from the Paparatava site near Vunakokor, Gazelle Peninsula, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago, PNG, Melanesia. Limestone (chalk) with red, white and black pigment. 33,1 cm. 19th century. Probably collected by Richard Thurnwald during the Deutsche Marine Expedition in 1907 at the Paparatava site near Vunakokor. Formerly in a private German collection. Ex Alfred Klinkmüller, Berlin in 1969. Ex Count d'Arschot, Bruxelles. The rear of the figure shows a scraped area which still retains traces of red paint and varnish. This area is in the same position as the black rectangle on this piece illustrated in Thurnwald which appears to show that the inventory number was removed. Traces of the number appear under UV light and further identification of the number is ongoing. Pub. : Thurnwald, Richard : ETHNOPSYCHOLOGISCHE STUDIEN AN SUDSEEVOLKERN AUF DEM BISMARCK-INSELN. J.A. Barth, Leipzig, 1913 plate XVIII, fig. 186b. The iniet are a so-called "secret society" of initiated men who are responsible for the iniet cult. This religious belief is not well documented. However, small stone carvings representing humans and animals are known to be used in initiation rites. It is thought that each iniet figure belongs to a specific member of the cult. The relationship between two members of the cult would seem to be governed by the parental ties between the stone figures they each own. The iniet cult was severely repressed by the early German colonial rule and the Christian missionaries, which forced the cult “underground” where it disappeared from the eyes of the few European observers present in New Britain at that time. The stone figures were either found in caves where they had been deposited by cult members or more rarely in small huts hidden in sacred enclosures. They have also been excavated from what are possibly ceremonial burials or safe-keeps where they would remain hidden from the German administration. The Gunantuna (or Tolai) people are originally from New Ireland where a funerary cult known as kulap exists which is represented by carved chalk, humanoïd figures.
Archaic Eskimo Art
Okvik Thule
27 A shaman’s figure. Okvik Culture, Saint Lawrence Island, Bering Strait, Alaska, USA. Fossilized walrus tusk. 5,1 cm. 250 BC – 100 AD. Figures of this type are thought to have been used by shaman in ritual and magical circumstances. Many of these figures seem to have been ritually broken.
28 A shaman's figure representing a standing human with hands placed to the sides of the abdomen. The eyes, nose and umbilicus are drilled to be inlayed with pyrite stones (umbilicus still present). The figure stands with a small raised base in lieu of the feet. Figures of this type are thought to have been used by shaman in ritual and magical circumstances. Many of these figures seem to have been ritually broken. Thule culture, Bering Sea, Alaska or Siberia. Fossilized walrus tusk and pyrite. 12,3 cm. Circa 1000 AD.
29 Archer’s wrist-guard. Old Bering Sea. Saint Lawrence Island, Bering Strait, Alaska, USA. Fossilized walrus bone. 10,9 cm. 300 – 500 AD
30 Armless female figure pierced laterally through the head for attachment to a necklace. The figure can also stand on its own. Thule Culture, Mainland Alaska, USA. Walrus tusk. 4,5 cm. 18th/19th century.
31 A needle-case stopper carved with an emaciated human face. Thule Culture, Mainland Alaska, USA. Walrus tusk. 5 cm. 18th/19th century.
As always my thanks go to the TEFAF team and to STABILO for their excellent & ongoing work organizing the fair. My thanks to our photographer Michel Gurfinkel; our art-handlers Philippe Delmas & Francis Viera; our base-makers (Manuel Do Carmo, the Atelier Punchinello, and Francois Lunardi); and to our restorers Brigitte Martin & Edouard Vatinel. A special thanks to my faithful and hard-working assistants Manuel Benguigui in Paris & Fang in Maastricht. A special mention for Jos Hu and family, and of course to my wife and children for their unfailing support, patience and affection. For their unselfish assistance and support - my thanks to all of our generous friends and most notably : Harry Beran, Daniel & Maria Blau, Stanley Bremer & Eline Kevenaar of the WereldMuseum Rotterdam, Pierre Capier, Will Channing, Christian Coiffier, Laurent Dodier, Christian Kaufmann, Clive Lovless, Klaus Maaz, Rita Alix Meyer, The Polynesian Society & the Journal of the Polynesian Society, David F. Rosenthal, Jean Roudillon, Mia van Bussel, Loed van Bussel, Marisa Viaggi Bonisoli, Ju Sun YI of the Bishop Museum Library & Archives. Photo credits : All works of art Michel Gurfinkel, Paris. © Galerie Meyer - Oceanic Art, Paris. • Photograph B/W (front cover & N° 1) : “Mele (Mary) Kaupoko (Padeken) wearing a Lei Niho Palaoa”, c. 1890‘s. © Collection Cayetana & Anthony JP Meyer, Paris. • Photograph color (N° 1) : John Hayter. “Governor Boki of Oahu and his wife Liliha”, pastel, c. 1824. © Severson, Don R., Finding Paradise, I slan d Ar t in P r iva te Colle c tions, Un iv e r s i t y o f H a wa i i Pre s s , 2 0 0 2 . h t t p : / / c o m m o n s . wi k i m e di a .org /w i ki / File:John_Hayter_-_'Govenor_Boki_of_Oahu_and_his_wife_Liliha',_pastel,_c._1860,.jpg. (all rights reserved). • Photograph B/W (N° 2) : “Thor Heyerdahl wearing a pa’e kaha crown, Fatu Hiva 1936”. Fatu Hiva, Back to Nature by Thor Heyerdahl, Doubleday & Co., Inc., New York, 1974. George Allen & Unwin LTD. • Photograph B/W (N° 5) : Colonel Seward R.E.. “Sir Arthur Gordon...in island kit”. Volume 77, 1968. No. 1. The founding of an orthodoxy: Sir Arthur Gordon and the doctrine of the Fijian way of life, by Peter France, p 6 - 32. © The Journal of the Polynesian Society (all rights reserved). • Photograph color (N° 5) : Page 62 of VOL. 1 of the “Second” collection, Pitt Rivers inventory. © http://databases.prm.ox.ac.uk/fmi/iwp/cgi?db=rethinking_volumes&-loadframes (all rights reserved). • Photographs B/W (N° 6) : Dr. Phlippe Francois & detail view of the original display. © Tajan, Paris (all rights reserved). • Photograph B/W (N° 9 & 23) : Étienne de Ganay & his sister Régine van den Broek d'Obrenan, Charles van den Broek d'Obrenan & Monique de Ganay, Jean Ratisbonne. New Zealand Herald, 1935. (all rights reserved). • Photograph color (N° 16) : Oscar Meyer. “Sepik orator-stool on canoe”. © Oscar Meyer Archives & Galerie Meyer, Paris. (all rights reserved). • Photograph B/W (N° 19 & 20) : “Dr. Nahm and ship’s officers” c. 1898/99. © Nagel Auktionen, Stuttgart (all rights reserved). • Photograph B/W (N° 22) : 2 pages from Arts de l’Océanie by Maurice Leenhardt, Les Editions du Chêne, Paris 1947. • Photograph B/W (N°25) :Marada figure. Deutsche Marine-Expedition, 1907-1909, from Krämer, Die Malanggane von Tombara, Georg Muller, Munich,1925. • Photograph B/W (N° 26) : Thurnwald, Richard : Ethno-psychologische Studien an Südseevölkern auf dem Bismarck-Archipel und den Salomo-Inseln. J.A. Barth, Leipzig, 1913. Every effort has been made to ensure correct copyright procedure. In the event you feel that your copyright has not been correctly asserted please contact Galerie Meyer - Oceanic Art, Paris. Layout and artwork : Galerie Meyer - Oceanic Art, Paris. English to French translation : Manuel Benguigui. Reproduction or publication in any form or format, either whole or partial, of the items, images, photos, works of art and texts contained in this publication is prohibited without formal written approval. Printed by TREFLE COMMUNICATION, Paris. February 2012, two thousand copies.
Le texte en français de ce catalogue est téléchargable sur le site internet de la galerie : www.galerie-meyer-oceanic-art.com
In Memoriam Marisa Viaggi Bonisoli friend - collector - author 1924 / 2011
Bibliography : • Bodrogi, Tibor: ART IN NORTH-EAST NEW GUINEA. The Hungarian Academy of sciences, Budapest. 1961. • Bonnemaison, Joël; Kaufmann, Christian; Huffman, Kirk; Darrell, Tyron (ed.): ARTS OF VANUATU. Crawford House Publishing, Bathurst, 1996. • Coiffier, Christian (ed.) : Le Voyage de LA KORRIGANE dans les Mers du Sud. Hazan, Musée de l'Homme, Paris, 2001. • Gunn, Michael & Peltier, Philippe (ed.) : NEW IRELAND, Art of the South Pacific. St Louis Art Museum, Musée du Quai Branly, 5 Continents, 2006. • Jacquemin, Sylviane: RAO POLYNESIES. Editions Parenthèses/Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Marseille, Paris, 1992. • Kaufmann, Christian : KOREWORI. Magische Kunst aus dem Regenwald. Museum der Kulturen, Basel & Christoph Merian Verlag, 2003. • "L'ART ANCESTRAL DES ILES MARQUISES - TE HAA TUPUNA KAKIU NO TEHENUA ENANA". Collective work : N. Berthelier, P. Bihouée, D. Blau, H. Guiot, AJP Meyer, P. & M-N. Ottino-Garanger, C. Stéfani. Exhibition catalogue on the arts of the Marquesas Islands at the Musée des Beaux Arts (june/october 2008). Musée des Beaux-Arts - Chartres, 2008. • Meyer, Anthony JP: OCEANIC ART / OZEANISCHE KUNST / ART OCEANIEN. Könemann Verlag, Köln. 1995. • Meyer, Anthony JP.: SPATULES A CHAUX MASSIM LIME SPATULAS. Exhibition catalogue. Galerie Meyer, Paris. 2000. Text by Harry Beran.
11 -‐ 16 September/Septembre 2012 Paris
15 -‐ 24 March/Mars 2013 Maastricht
www.galerie-meyer-oceanic-art.com