Magic Amulet
April River, Upper Sepik River Region, Papua New Guinea, early 20th century
Provenance: Collected by Douglas Newton, Former Curator of African & Oceanic art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. John Friede, Rye, New York.

This wooden abstract Amulet was originally kept in a small woven magical bag. Carved out of wood, small geometric decorations have been linearly incised according to the natural curvature of the wood. Traces of natural pigment are still visible in the negative space between raised carvings. These naturally abstract shaped Magic Amulets are extremely desirable, however, this example's size is unusual. Instead of hard wood, these amulets were usually much smaller and carved out of thin curled pieces of wood.

Height: 7 in.
IN 11-5-14/ SOLD