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Figure, nggwalndu
East Sepik Province
19th century
Wood, blue and white pigment
H. 231 cm
TC 88

Although their name means "grandfather," nggwalndu are neither ancestors nor culture heroes, but male spirits associated with water holes and swamps. Involved in an initiatory cult of their own, they are embodied in huge faces painted on ceremonial house gables and enlarged carved figures that are among the most secret of Abelam sacred objects. Usually the figures are anthropomorphic and quite naturalistic. Some...show human heads at the top of registers of opposed hooks. This style is said to have preceded the naturalistic one... the head is crowned with a crest that replicates the small woven or carved ornaments worn by men doing ritual, and that also appears worn by the painted nggwalndu faces. The "hooks" are stylized birds' heads, probably totemic and seemingly of hornbills." (Newton 2001: 254)

Provenance:
John Giltsoff, Girona, 2001
Sotheby's New York, May 19, 2000
Jacques Kerchache Gallery, Paris, 1967

Publishing History:
Jean Guiart. Fleuve Sepik. Nouvelle-Guinée. Paris. Galerie Jacques Kerchache, 1967: no.23.

Exhibition History:
Galerie Jacques Kerchache. Fleuve Sepik. Nouvelle-Guinée, 1967: no. 23.