An Asmat head ornament made from Cuscus fur

Asmat, Papua Province, Indonesia, Late 19th century Provenance: - Collection Rinck Hollnberger, Munich (purchased in the 1980s or 1990s)

Papua New Guinea, 18th-19th century L. 22.5 x W. 18 cm (approx.) Provenance: Collected by Schulze-Westrum Collection Rinck Hollnberger, Munich (purchased in the 1980s or 1990s) For a comparable skull see the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The heads of humans and of animals such as crocodiles and pigs formerly played integral roles in the ceremonial life of Papuan Gulf peoples, who considered the heads to be vessels of life-giving supernatural power. Within men’s ceremonial houses, human skulls were displayed, together with sacred images such as spirit boards or gope, by the members of each clan in a specially constructed clan shrine. However, not all heads required the death of an enemy. In some areas, heads made from wood or other materials appear to have had powers equal to actual ones. In contrast to skulls, the facial features of wood heads were sometimes depicted as they appeared in life. This example comes from the Wapo Creek area, where wood heads appear to have been used interchangeably with actual skulls. When headhunting was abolished by Australian colonial...

Ifugao, Northern Philippines, 19th century Decorated with different kinds of beadwork and the bill of a Kalaw bird (hornbill). Historically, only those who had proven themselves th...

Achuar people, Perú, Amazon region, early 20th century

New Guinea, Indonesia from the Asmat people a large serving platter with ancestor head on top, crested with bird head. Scooped out inside with coating of white pigments. Outside wi...

Sculptural Dance Drum hand-carved by the Asmat Tribe Papua, New Guinea. The fine Hourglass form Drum with handle on one side and flange on the other with traditional incised Mask d...

A ritual artifact from the tribe of the Asmat poeple, an ethnic group of New Guinea living in the Papua province of Indonesia and South-western regions of Papua New Guinea, bis or bisj pole is carved out of a wild Mangrove tree and can reach a stunning height Their carvings depict stacked human and animal figures standing and on top always phallic symbols, in the shape of a canoe prow. Bis poles...

Exceptional Tribal object from Papua New Guinea, handcut from around 1960, made out of Shell and decorated with Shell and Coconut and woven Textiles, this object is special because i...