Exceptional garamut drum front consisting of a... Lot 143

Exceptional garamut drum front consisting of a large face in an elegant and concave shape, it seems to have two levels of eyes by the presence of two excrescences (unless they are cheekbones), and its nose in a strongly curved and convex shape, the whole is surrounded by three other small smiling faces adorned with scale motifs, including one in medallion at the location of the mouth. This beautiful and very old specimen is among the finest known of this corpus of Korewori drums, which were kept in men's homes and were an essential part of traditional life. It is comparable to a slit drum in the Museum der Kulturen in Basel (inv. Vb 19606, and another in the National Museum of Papua New Guinea in Port Moresby). Karawari (Korewori), Southern Middle Sepik, Papua New Guinea Wood, truncated at the beginning of the drum, knocks and very slight accidents, superb and very old patina of use slightly scratched. H. 87 cm Provenance: - Collected by Pierre Langlois and Marcel Évrard in 1959-60 - Former collection Marcel Évrard Exhibition and Publication : Oceania at CRACAP (National Center of Research of Animation and Creation for the Plastic Arts) 1971, fig. 6 of the catalog, reproduced in full page.