A PAPUA NEW GUINEA CARVED AND PAINTED WOOD FLUTE STOPPER, WASELA Early to mid 20th century
49 cm high
Carved as a standing human male figure with a cockatoo bird on his shoulder.
Provenance: Acquired before 1975.
This kind of stopper was used when the flute didn’t play. The sacred bamboo flute was an emblem of the voices of the ancestors, played during ceremonies. The human figure of the stopper is representative of the ancestor appealed as a help for the hunting of wild pigs.