Bidspirit auction | Lime Container, Sepik River

Lime Container, Sepik River - Lime Container or Stopper, carved in wood, with rattan and cassowary feather elements. Marked ”36-105-70 / 456” by Ledoux. Cowry shell eyes, nose elongated to geometric design that flows into a stylized bird. According to anthropologist Raymond Firth (1936), lime stoppers ”... are made by the men who initiate novices into male secrets ...”. In his book (see Similar Items below), he describes a very similar lime stopper ”the carving here is of mwah, a totemic clan ancestor, the nose of which is prolonged into a snake. The eyes are small cowrie shells, the colors white, black, blue (Reckitt's) and a touch of red.” Locale: Lower Sepik River Country: Papua New Guinea Date: 1936 or earlier Material: Bamboo, Wood, Rattan, Cassowary Feather Dimensions: L 29”/ 74 cm x W 3”/ 7.5cm Technique: Carved Provenance: Louis Pierre Ledoux Collection Similar items: LOT 23, BINOCHE ET GIQUELLO, PARIS - 6 NOV. 2015 Art de Nouvelle-Guinée : Collection d'un amateur https://www.artkhade.com/en/object/776djesK Cambridge University Museum No. 35.17C, attributed to the [Gregory] Bateson Collection. 1936 Firth, Raymond. Art & Life in New Guinea. New York: The Studio Publications Inc., page 60-61.