Rare and very beautiful figure of a temes-nevinbur... - Lot 146 - Ader

Lot 146
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Estimation :
1500 - 2500 EUR
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Result : 4 608EUR
Rare and very beautiful figure of a temes-nevinbur... - Lot 146 - Ader
Rare and very beautiful figure of a temes-nevinbur spirit-being, n'dem nabwikai. On the island of Malakula, and in Vanuatu in general (former New Hebrides), a multitude of sculptures, masks and anthropomorphic headdresses exist without it being possible to make an exhaustive inventory, firstly because they are often destroyed after their ritual or public use, but above all because Kastom custom guards and requires the secrecy of the different "readings" and meanings of each ritual object. We are more familiar with the large funerary sculptures rambaramp of a rather public use, as well as the large sculptures of ranks or faitières in tree fern, that being so, we can consider the sculpture presented here as a representation of being-spirit temes nevinbur, n'dem nabwikaï without being able to say more about its deep meaning, except to marvel at its presence and its terrifying beauty, as Marcel Évrard had seen it when he used its image to illustrate the invitation card accompanied by a text by Pierre Langlois for the opening of the exhibition Art d'Océanie - Nouvelles-Hébrides at La Galerie Marcel Évrard in Lille 7, Place de Béthune on December 8, 1956. See for a comparable sculpture in the collections of the Nouméa Museum (MNC 86.6.49) Fig. 72 reproduced on page 49 of Vanuatu Oceania - Arts Des Îles De Cendre Et de Corail, RMN-ORSTOM, 1996. Ni Vanuatu, South or Central Malakula Island, Vanuatu Overmodeled plant materials, pigments, spider webs, pig teeth, and braided plant fiber cords, excellent state of preservation. H. 19.5 cm (head size only without the spider web and cord attachment) Provenance: - Collected by Pierre Langlois and Marcel Évrard in 1959-60 - Former collection of Marcel Évrard
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