ASMAT SEATED FEMALE FIGURE, IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA

with number "2357/15." painted on reverse of shoulders.

Charles Ratton, Paris
Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, acquired from the above in February 1961 (stock book no. "4418")

Very good condition overall. Hairline cracks, nicks and scratches, wear and tear from traditional use throughout. Aged patina with red and white pigment. Fiber and shell attachments on ears fragile. Wooden peg inserted into buttocks for mounting.
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Ancient Asmat statuary representing seated females is exceedingly rare. For a related figure of younger age in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, see Kjellgren (2007: 25, cat. 1).

In his discussion of a related figure Friede (2005, vol. II: text to cat. 517) notes that the "head evokes associations with the ambirak, a nonhuman malevolent female being, represented alternatively with a human, avian, or serpent head. The figure also takes the form of a praying mantis, an important headhunting symbol which derives its function, in part, from the fact that the female of the species often decapitates the male after they have mated. [...] The association of this figure to ancestors is reinforced by the knee-to-elbow pose, which was believed by the Asmat to have been the posture of the very first people who were wooden figures before they were brought to life by the creator-hero Fumeripits. By playing a drum, Fumeripits separated the elbows and knees and brought the image to life, after which they stood up and began to dance. [... Thus] the pose refers to the supernatural existence from which man has come and to which he will return after death."

The iconography of the Matisse figure showing both forearms in almost vertical position with free hands is unusual. This treatment is documented for two very early Asmat figures both of which were collected before 1913. See Museum voor Volkenkunde Leyden, inv. nos. "1971-982" and "1971-986".