This gope demonstrates singular, archetypal qualities. There are four faces with complete bodies; the bodies on the bottom are upside down. The figure at the bottom is clearly the mother goddess, laying on her back, underneath the ground, her legs open to the sky. The pigment and jagged line above her is the surface of the earth. She has just given birth to a boy, who is the figure above her. The boy’s legs are open as he is penetrating the girl above him. The girl seems to have sprung from the head of the face (representing the head) of the figure above her. That figure, which is the face of the whole gope, is the original ancestor of the tribe. That ancestor was a male, based on the penis/handle of the entire gope. The original ancestor’s face is calm and happy.

Provenance:
Serge Schoffel, Brussels, 2004
Emil Deletaille, Brussels

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, 2006:14 (Fig.17).

Bernard de Grunne. Art Papou. Brussels. Louis Musin, 1979: 130, fig. 10.1.

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.