Unknown
(Papua New Guinea)
- Title
- Lamu (Hearth stand)
- Other titles:
- Clay gargoyle
Ridge ornament
Hearth support - Place of origin
-
Dimiri Village →
Yuat River →
East Sepik Province →
Papua New Guinea
- Cultural origin
- Yaul people
- Media category
- Ceramic
- Materials used
- earthenware, incised and modelled
- Dimensions
-
19.0cm height; 27.0cm width:
0 - Whole; 19cm (7 1/2")
0 - Whole; 27cm (10 5/8")
- Credit
- Purchased 1965
- Accession number
- IA2.1965
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
These solid objects made of clay and fired to a low temperature are modelled by men whereas women make cooking pots. They were used to support a cooking pot over a fire. This particular object with the animal above may not have been functional, showing an intermediary stage to the next illustration, a figure. The people of Dimiri and associated villages living in swamp country, traded pots, as well as baskets, mosquito bags and artifacts with the group to the west, the Mundugumor (Biwat people) who lived on both sides of the Yuat River. The aggressive Mundugumor preyed on the swamp villages but "they were careful not to kill all of them for then there would be no makers of pots left alive" (Margaret Mead, 'Sex and temperament in three primitive societies', New York, 3rd ed, 1963, pg. 171). Stylistically the pot head has strong affinities with wooden masks of the Yuat style, the pouting mouth, the lower raised cheeks, the bulbous nose.
revised entry from AJ Tuckson, 'Some Sepik River art from the collection', AGNSW Quarterly, vol 13, no 3, 1972, pg. 671.
- Bibliography (4)
-
Margaret Tuckson (Australia) (Author), Patricia May (Author), The traditional pottery of Papua New Guinea, Kensington, 1982. General reference to Yaul pottery. See Fig. 9.63 for similar hearth stand with the addition of a bird.
'Some Sepik River art from the collection' by Tony Tuckson, pg. 666-679., Art Gallery of New South Wales Quarterly Apr 1972, Apr 1972, 667, 670, 674 (illus.). plate no. 4
Tony Tuckson (Egypt; England; Australia, b.1921, d.1973) (Author), Melanesian art, Sydney, 1966, 7, between pg. 12-13 (illus.). cat.no. 30
1965 Acquisitions 1965, 1965, 79-80. cat.no. 143
- Exhibition history (4)
-
Pacific art: Private collection of Stephen Kellner, Hungry Horse Gallery, 21 Apr 1965 -.
Purchases and Acquisitions for 1965, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 09 Mar 1966–03 Apr 1966.
Melanesian Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 20 Apr 1966–22 May 1966.
Aboriginal and Melanesian art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 19 Oct 1974 -.
