Bowdoin College Museum of Art | - Statuette of a Man

Preview image of work. limestone, Statuette of a Man 219

1850.2

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Statuette of a Man

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Artist

Artist Unidentified

Title

Statuette of a Man

Creation Date

1830-1850

Century

mid-19th century

Dimensions

10 in. (25.4 cm.)

Classification

Sculpture

Creation Place

Oceania or Australasia, Papua New Guinea, New Britain

Medium and Support

limestone

Credit Line

Anonymous Gift

Copyright

Public Domain

Accession Number

1850.2

These two figures hail from the Rossel Mountains in southern New Ireland, an island in Papua New Guinea. Typically made of chalk, statuettes such as these, known as kulap figurines, would be fashioned soon after an individual’s death. A male relative of the deceased was tasked with choosing an appropriate stone from a local quarry, and artisans would fashion the statues before clandestinely presenting them to a tribal leader. This leader would then put them on display with other such figurines, where men could visit them to grieve, while women and children were stayed outside. Believed to contain the souls of their subjects, the sculptures would be ritually broken after a period of mourning. Production of the statues ceased as Christianity gained popularity in the area in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.