Called kwoi in this area of the Papuan Gulf, spirit boards show the face or body of a spirit. The stylised figures are often highly abstract with the body animated by a navel. The navel also provided a way for the spirit to inhabit the board.

Provenance:
Serge Schoffel, Brussels, 2004
Sotheby's New York. November 20, 1997

Publishing History:
Robert Welsch, Virginia-Lee Webb, Sebastian Haraha. Coaxing the Spirits to Dance: Art and Society in the Papuan Gulf. New Hampshire, Hood Museum of Art, 2006:16 (Fig. 20).

Cannes. Palais Miramar. Arts d'Afrique et d"Oceanie. 1957:344.

Exhibition History:
Coaxing the Spirits to Dance: Art of the Papuan Gulf. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York October 24, 2006 - December 2, 2007.
Palais Miramar, Cannes, France. Premiere Exposition Retrospective Internationale des Arts d'Afrique et d"Oceanie, 6 July - 29 September 1957