Large Bowl, Lake Sentani, West Papua
Chris Boylan Oceanic Art
Large Food Bowl, Lake Sentani, West Papua, Indonesia
84 x 32 cm
Collected in early 1970s by Helen Dennett on her first journey around Lake Sentani by canoe. This was part of her private collection until recently.
This bowl is low and horizontal, oval is shape, and typically used for serving food, especially the baked sago form called sagu bakar or sagu lempeng. The inside is flat and smooth with a slight concavity. It has been used over a generation or more, suggesting that the bowl was carved in the early 20th Century.
The underside of the bowl is engraved with curvilinear motifs and has a raised lug at its upper point to enable the bowl to be hung. Traditionally these engraved designs had lime rubbed into them thereby highlighting the darker carved motifs. These spiral and scroll designs, typically found on bowls, paddles and bark cloth paintings of Lake Sentani represent spiritual energy, ancestors and are important cosmic symbols.
SOLD
Artwork details
Origin
unknown
Dimension
H 33.070884IN x W 12.598432IN x D 1.181103IN
H 84CM x W 32CM x D 3CM
Provenance
Collected by Helen Dennett on her first visit ti Lake Sentani in the eraly 1070s and remained in her private collection.
Condition
good