A pigment bowl decorated with a crocodile head and a human h - Lot 112

A pigment bowl decorated with a crocodile head and a human head. The handle is carved with a beautiful crocodile head, the top of whose skull extends into the bowl's crucible. Its right eye still retains a mother-of-pearl inlay. The sculpture is nervous, expressive and detailed. At the back of the bowl is a superb male head in a very archaic style. His arms, carved in relief and folded under the head, form a bust like the stern of a boat, through which a perforation at neck level serves as a bélière. An egg-shaped bead is carved underneath to stabilize the cup. This is a true masterpiece of Middle Sepik art, a "pre-contact" work, an expression dear to Sepik art specialists. This bowl was published and commented on as a "godet à pigments" by Maurice Leenhardt in his book Arts de l'Océanie, published in 1947. A work published in the Arts Du Monde collection under the direction of Georges de Miré, whose eye is certainly no stranger to the selection of this work for this publication. Our cup had already been exhibited at the Musée de l'Homme during the Voyage de la Korrigane en Océanie exhibition between June and October 1938, and can be seen photographed in one of the showcases of this exhibition in brilliant company, notably with the Sawos skull hook that Jacques Kerchache had chosen for his original selection of the Pavillon des Cessions, first version... What a journey this cup, this "pigment bucket", has taken from the banks of the Sépik River and its collection in 1935 by Régine and Charles van den Broek, whose photos and documentation of their brief foray on the Sépik River remain to this day, according to specialists, an irreplaceable testimony. Not surprisingly, it was this object from the Korrigane's voyage that Jean Roudillon, its "inventor", kept the longest. In Jean Roudillon's notes: "Oceania, New Guinea Wooden paint container in the shape of a crocodile with an elongated snout, one eye inlaid with a marine shell. This piece is exceptionally carved at the tail of a human head, with a hole at neck height for hanging the container. From the voyage of the Korrigane, D393 1660. Probably Iatmul or Sawos, Middle Sepik, Papua New Guinea Wood, mother-of-pearl, very slight traces of white pigment in the crocodile's mouth, beautiful old oxidation and superb patina from use, stone-cut object known as "pre-contact". Old Musée de l'Homme inventory numbers inscribed under the crocodile's mouth: D.39.3 / 1660, and another number inscribed in red under the base. Length: 30.5 cm See p. 31 fig. 19 in Arts de l'Océanie, Maurice Leenhardt, Collection Arts du Monde (ed. Georges de Miré), Les Éditions du Chêne, 1947. See: p. 72 to 77 for the voyage calendar in Le Voyage de la Korrigane dans les mers du Sud, Musée de l'Homme, Ed. Hazan Paris 2001. Provenance : - Collected during the voyage of La Korrigane (1934-1936), and certainly in October 1935 by Régine and Charles van den Broek during a brief excursion up the Sépik River. - Jean Roudillon Collection Exhibition and publication: - Voyage de la Korrigane en Océanie, June to October 1938 musée de l'Homme, Paris - Visible lower left in a display case at the Musée de l'Homme, photo by Henri Tracol (see reproduction on previous page). - Arts de l'Océanie, Maurice Leenhardt Collection Arts du Monde, Les Éditions du Chêne, 1947. Reproduced fig.19 p. 31.