HELP WITH ORIGIN OF INCREDIBLE AFRICAN? STATUE

I found this piece along with 3 others today (1st photo). The others make me think "Pacific Islands", but this one...African?
Can someone tell me where this is from? If African, which tribe?
And lastly, if it is real or made for tourists?
Thank you, I appreciate any help.

 

Not African. It's an ancestral figure from Papua New Guinea. Most likely from the middle Ramu River area.

https://finevintagedesign.com/product/ramu-river-ancestor-figure

 

You did it again, Taupou!
Thanks!
Do you think it is real (tribal piece) or for tourist trade?

 

Are the other 3 figures also from there (1st photo?)

 

That's a little more difficult to tell.

It has a rather "interesting" stand. Was it original to the piece? If so, it would certainly point to having been made for use by a buyer, or by a buyer, not the way it would have been displayed originally. It does have a rather folk art approach, with the combination of what looks like duct tape, paper clip, and cordage, but is obviously newer.

Wood carvings like this, however, don't last long in the heat and humidity changes of a New Guinea village, making it difficult to date them, especially if they were acquired years ago and stored indoors in a different climate. Do you know anything about the collection? Like when it was acquired? Where it's been?

 

It is probably Misingi village.

 

Yes, I would say they are all from Papua New Guinea. Probably not all from the same area though.

The others are more in the style of carvings from the Gulf Province, or possibly even Irian Jaya. They appear to be ancestral boards (gope) which were protective spirits hung in village houses to ward off bad spirits.

I would say that none of these appear to be the typical type of item produced strictly for tourists. Whether they are actually old pieces that were used culturally, I can't say. But they are traditionally made, and traditional forms.

 

Misingi is sometimes written Misinki. It is the village on the Ramu River where this style with the concentric circle faces is generally made.

 

I got these from a friend's antique shop - he got them at an estate a long time ago & brought them out of storage to put in his store a few weeks ago.
I think the stands are used for displaying anything - see the fish line holding the tallest one to stand. And the pads added to the smaller ones where they rest against the pole.
PS - The smaller hollowed out ones and the taller..full/round one with heads on both ends are from the same place? Did they have different purposes?

Again thanks for the info

 

Spirit figure.....1950's....??


I'd say all your items are 1970's or after.....tourist items..


with the 2 smaller ones carved to look like shields .....

the tall one is the most modern.....I don't even understand the face???

 

I agree, the additional photos, especially of that tall piece, show some details not shown in the first photos, that might change things a bit. And the numbers on the back of the gope board would be associated with items made for sale, for example.

But I would still think that these (but perhaps not the tall one after seeing the closeups) are not the typical tourist pieces coming out of PNG recently. There isn't much of a demand for these rather unusual forms and styles. Tourists generally want a mask, a smaller piece that will fit in their luggage, and something they can easily identify and display.

The fact that these aren't from the Sepik River, whose style of art most people are more familiar with, also needs to be taken into account.

But at least you found out it's not African!

 

My brain didn't work very well yesterday, slightly better today. So, for what it's worth:
In the case of PNG and other regions of the world, tourist items is a term not just for items bought locally by visiting tourists, but also bought by traders. There is nothing wrong with that, it provides an extra income for families.
So yes, they are 'real tribal' pieces, but not for traditional use, and not made in the style that was prevalent in these areas 150 years ago.

When I lived in Oz in the late 60s-early 70s, ethnographic galleries were stacked with these carvings. They were even sold in shows in community centres. That's how I picked up the name of the village of the concentric ring masks, Misingi.

The tall figures are a bit of a mystery to me. They are not like anything I know from Papua Gulf, where the faces are generally round or broad, like this:

http://www.art-pacific.com/artifacts/nuguinea/papuan/gulfcarv.htm
They are probably tourist items from West Irian, I can see some resemblance with traditional Irian styles.
By the way, I prefer the more neutral name West Irian to the politically charged name Irian Jaya. The Papua refugees I've met are not very fond of the term, to say the least. Jaya means victory, as in Indonesian victory. And consequently loss of any hope of Papuan independence.

Anyway, I agree with komo, 1970s, possibly even as late as 1990s for the West Irian(?) figures, and made for sale.

 

Not African indeed, but everything is said about the statues.
Just had a question, is that a canon, standing up right behind the statues, on the first pic?

 

I thought it was a chimney pot vase at first, but yes, why not a canon. But the bottom looks flat, is that normal for a canon?

 

No, that's the reason, I was asking...

 

Of course.

 

Chimney pot vase - if a cannon I'd have posted it here asking for age & origins!
Thanks you all very much - this board rocks!

 

Ok, thanks!