Lintel New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua... Lot 34

Lintel New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia 19th century Wood, pigments, resin and turbo-marmoratus opercula L. 296 cm Minor reinforcement at rear Minor gaps, rubbing and wear from age and use Lintel, New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, Melanesia L. 116 ½ in Provenance: - Collected in the field in 1895 by Count Rodolphe Festetics de Tolna (1865-1933?) during his eight-year voyage in the Pacific and Indian Oceans aboard the yacht "le Tolna".See the book relating this voyage published by Librairie Plon "Plon Nourrit et Cie, Imprimeurs - Éditeurs 8 rue Garancière Paris 6e, 1904" New Ireland Chapter VI page 107 to 146. - Seized as Austro-Hungarian property in 1914 by French customs. - Acquired by Dr. Stephan Chauvet (La Gaude and 35 rue de Grenelle, Paris) at French customs auction in 1920. - Offered for sale in 1950 by Jean Roudillon, 8 rue des Saints-Pères, Paris on consignment from Dr. Chauvet. - Acquired in 1950 by Edmond Bomsel from Jean Roudillon, then the Bomsel family by descent until 2015. Edmond Bomsel was a bibliophile close to André Breton and artistic circles, particularly the Surrealists. Together with Léon Pierre-Quint, he directed the Sagittaire publishing house, notably between 1944 and 1951. There is a remarkable portrait of Edmond Bomsel by Jean Lurçat. Very large Malagan frieze, or kobo-kobor, from an initiation house. It is composed of multiple interlocking anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures. These friezes, or lintels, are generally carved symmetrically, extending outwards from a central focal point, in this case an empty circle representing the almighty malagan vavara. The extremities are carved with representations of large fish symbolizing death, while the rest of the sculpture is composed of a multitude of overlapping birds with long, extended feathers. The bodies of two ancestral figures, having unfortunately lost their heads, are also part of the composition. A very similar frieze, collected between the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, is preserved at the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin (inv.VI57383).