Drum mallet, Woguma population, Papua New Guinea Called... Lot 20

Drum mallet, Woguma population, Papua New Guinea Called mi ras or ga'hei Height: 49 cm Provenance: - Collected by Douglas Newton in 1967 in the village of Yambunumbu at the mouth of the April River. - The Jolika collection of John & Marcia Friede. USA Literature: Douglas Newton. Crocodile and Cassowary. Museum of Primitive art, New York. 1971. Illustrated page 57 n°94 Exhibition: Ritual art of the Upper Sepik River, New Guinea. Museum of primitive art, New York. February-May 1969 For the Woguma people, both the drum and the mallet are particularly sacred objects. They represent the feminine spirit of water. The drum symbolizes the pirogue and the mallet the paddle, both intimately linked in their symbolism and use, the mallet making the drum resonate. Kept out of sight of the women, who were not to know who, in the men's house, was making the voice of the ancestors resound. Resting on a circular base, cylindrical in shape and tapering at the end, the drum is engraved with a finely schematized face. This drum has a beautiful patina of use, as well as traces of jolting attesting to its repeated use. Collected by Douglas Newton (1920-2001), who joined the Museum of Primitive Art in 1960 as assistant curator. Deputy Director in 1974, he became Chief Curator of the Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the America after the transfer of the collections to the M.E.T.. He made five trips to Papua New Guinea from 1964 onwards, from which he brought back this mallet.