Lot n° 29
Estimation :
2000 - 2500
EUR
Timbu Wara emblem - Lot 29
Timbu Wara emblem
Wiru population, Pangia region. Southern Highlands
Highlands Province, Papua New Guinea
Plant fiber basketry, ochre clay pigment.
Size: 102 x 63 cm
Framed: 116 x 75cm
Provenance: Daniel Vigne Collection, Uzès
Daniel Vigne Collection, Uzès
Before the era of first contact with Westerners, various spiritual cults governed societies in the southern Highlands. The Wiru, who lived in the Pangia region, created flat woven figurines known as timbu wara, as part of their "timbu" cult. The term Timbu means "sky", so the cult may have a link with the mythical "Sky Beings", considered important in Highland cosmology, feared and respected by men, while the term Wara has two translations, "spear" and "guardian", suggesting an idea of strength and protection.
This important wickerwork figure takes the form of a two-dimensional anthropomorphic figure, with a massive trunk pierced by a hole to mark the umbilicus, long limbs and slightly raised arms.
The ovoid head, framed by circular ears, features a central, hollowed-out orifice signifying the mouth. The schematic features, reduced to their simplified forms, reinforce the importance of the geometric motifs - lozenges, semi-circles, lines - drawn with ochre clay pigments all over the body. These figurines, fashioned from plant fibers, can embody a variety of forms - anthropomorphic and zoomorphic - and are thus essentially linked to nature.
The timbu fertility cult, a ceremonial cycle performed every five to eight years, had the function of "restoring the ecological balance and fertility of man, pig and earth." (Pamela J Stewart & Andrew Strathern, "Timbu wara figures from Pangia, Papua New Guinea", Records of the South Australian
Museum, vol 34, no 2, 2001, pp 65-77). A cult building was built around a central tungi pole, to which pig jaws had been attached. The ritual culminated in a dance performed by the men around the tungi, wearing the famous timbuwara effigies on their heads, before moving the pole.
These wickerwork figures, known as
Timbu wara, were made in the Pangia region
Pangia region in the southern Highlands. Periodically, at intervals of five to eight years, the Timbu cult was part of a ceremonial cycle involving the killing of several hundred pigs.At the end of this cycle, men danced with these emblems placed vertically on their heads.The aim of this cult was to restore ecological balance and fertility to humans, pigs and lands endowed with abundant gardens, taro, bananas and sweet potatoes.After the ritual, these anthropomorphic figurines, supposed to represent the spirits of deceased women, were kept in the men's house, fixed to a central post (tungi) on which were also hung the jaws of pigs sacrificed to the Timbu spirit. The term Timbu means "sky", so the cult may have a link with the mythical "Sky Beings" considered important in Highland cosmology.
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