Oceanic Art at Bonhams', San Francisco, CA

Seasoned and entry-level Oceanic Art collectors will have plenty from which to choose at Bonhams’ inaugural auction solely devoted to the topic. The Feb.11 event will feature 150 lots of original, diverse works from the regions of Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Indonesia and Australia. The auction’s timing coincides with the 26th Annual San Francisco Tribal & Textile Arts Show to be held Feb. 10-12 at the Fort Mason Center.

Massim Splashboard, lagim, Trobriand or D'Entrecasteaux Islands, Papua New Guinea,
Estimate: US$2,000 - 3,000, € 1,600 - 2,300

The object of the day: Funerary figure from New Ireland

Funerary Figure (Kulap)
Southern New Ireland, 19th century.

In southeastern New Ireland, mortuary rituals involved limestone chalk figures known as kulap. Kulap figures were traditionally kept in ritual houses, and functioned during funerary ceremonies as temporary vessels for the souls of the deceased. Upon the conclusion of the ceremony, the figures were broken, releasing the souls into the realm of the ancestors. These ritual are no longer practiced in New Ireland today.

Material: Limestone, fiber;
Height: 29 1/2 in. (75 cm)
Provenance: Collected in New Ireland, ca. 1890; Augustus H. L. F. Pitt-rivers, Pitt Rivers Museum, Farnham, Dorset, 1898; [W. D. Webster, London, before 1900]; Stella Pitt-Rivers; John Hewett, London; [Mathias Komor, New York, 1977], Barbier-Mueller collection, since 1977