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Skull rack, agiba
Goaribari Island
late 19th - early 20th century
Wood, pigment
H. 66 cm
TC 451

This rare and delicately carved agiba displays a classic and intricate design.

Two types of agiba exist. Both types were kept in ancestral shrines and venerated spirits needed for success in headhunting and in obtaining food. The first type have proportionately large heads, round faces, and circular eyes. The second type had narrower bodies overall, smaller faces with oval or pointed heads and sometimes had avian skulls attached. A.C.Haddon collected both types on his trip to the Papuan Gulf in 1914. Agiba were often displayed in pairs and are made only by the Kerewa people of the western Papuan Gulf. Few examples were documented and an even smaller number were collected.

Provenance:
Chris and Anna Thorpe, Sydney 2007
Giles Barton
Barton family, before 1975