Ancestral Figure Wood Carving
£145.00
Please click the button to make an enquiry – or to purchase this artefact
Description
Vintage Ancestral Figure Wood Carving standing on a Volcanic Rock Base
Region: East Timor  Indonesia
Height overall: 55cm / 21.5 inches
Width: 15cm / 6 inches
Depth: 8cm / 3 inches
Weight: 6.75kg / 3 lb
This ancestral figure carving was produced to honour the departed. These statues are usually kept in the false roof of the lopo. They can be brought out to re-tell stories and as a means to remember past family members. Similarly guardian spirits, ancestor figures or totemic spirits are all captured in wood – to be passed down for posterity and used in order to build the spiritual power of the village.
Timor island, in the Lesser Sunda Islands, has a long history of influx of populations going back tothe early 1500s when Portuguese traders set up a base there while trading sandalwood. Dutch traders working the spice trade arrived in the early 1600sand set up on the western end of the island. Further influxes of Indonesian Malay settlers along the coastal areas in later centuries saw the predominantly Melanesian Aboriginal people of Timor move inland to the more mountainous highland country.
Amongst the Aboriginal inhabitants traditional practices of Animism and Ancestor worship predominate. Each village has a sacred house with a custodian priest and a surrounding taboo area. Because of former coastal warfare, villages and isolated houses are surrounded by stockades, and houses are usually raised on piles.
The tradition of tribal art carving has been continued and is practiced by males exclusively. The majority of carvings originate from the Belu district of Central Timor. The carvers work with local resources such as wood (teak, red cedar wood, eucalyptus and palm wood), bamboo, coconut shell, gourds, bone and fossilised coral.
Considering the age of this nice artefact it is in very good condition. Please view all of the photos…
