Bat Amulet Figure

Murik Lakes, Coastal Sepik River region, Papua New Guinea
19th c

Provenance: Kathleen Haven, NY
Douglas Newton, NY
John Friede, NY

Published: Adrienne Kaeppler, Douglas Newton, Peter Gathercole. The Art of the Pacific Islands. Washington DC: The National Gallery, 1979: 294 (fig.22.3) Caption listing only, no photo of the object.

John A. Friede, editor. New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection. San Francisco and Milan: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and 5 Continents Editions 2005: 89 (fig. 42).

Exhibited: National Gallery of Art, East Building, Washington DC. The Art of the Pacific Islands, July 1, 1979-February 17, 1980.

DeYoung Museum Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA. The Jolika Collection, Marcia and John Friede, 2005-2011.

Based on Western anthropologist’s observations and the informants they have queried, we believe that amulets protected their owners from evil, warded off sickness, and in some instances, even brought sickness upon evildoers.  Some amulets, aided in love.  It is said that when a man was interested in a woman, an amulet in the form of a fruit bat was hung inside the living space of the woman he wanted to attract so the spirits would guide her to him. (Welsch 1998, An American Anthropologist in Melanesia, A.B. Lewis and the Joseph N. Field South Pacific Expedition 1909-1913, vol.1.)