Porte-bébé, Dayak, Bornéo

Collection baron Verwilghen, Bruxelles
Pascassio Manfredi, Paris
Collection privée européenne 

Please contact the department for condition report + 33 (0)1 53 05 53 35 ; marguerite.desabran@sothebys.com +33 (0)1 53 05 52 67 ; alexis.maggiar@sothebys.com
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Dans leur étude fondatrice, Whittier et Whittier (Baby Carriers. A Link Between Social and Spiritual Values Among the Kenyah Dayak of Borneo, 1988) divisent en trois catégories les porte-bébé du complexe Kenyah-Kayan des Dayak : ceux présentant un dossier en vannerie décoré d’une résille perlée, ceux supportés par des montants sculptés en bois ou en os, et enfin ceux en bois dur, présentant – comme ici -  des visages sculptés en haut relief. Ce dernier type, dont l’usage était réservé aux familles de haut rang, est à la fois le plus rare et le plus remarquable.

Son corpus, très restreint, est essentiellement conservé dans des collections muséales : The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. n° 1987.453.2) ; Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris (inv. n° 70.2001.27.215) ; Fowler Museum, Los Angeles (inv. n° FMCHX 85.1076) ; Sainsbury Center for Visual Arts, Norwich (inv. n° UEA 797) ; Yale University Art Gallery, New Heaven (inv. n° 2012.30.554 et inv. n° ILE2012.30.288) ; National Museum of Scotland, Edimbourg (inv. n°A.1981.127). A cet ensemble s’ajoutent six œuvres détenues en mains privées, répertoriées par Bernard de Grunne (Dayak, 2015, p. 81).

Selon les croyances Dayak, dans les premiers temps de la vie d’un enfant, son âme ne lui était pas fermement attachée. Afin d’inciter l’âme à se lier définitivement à l’enfant, la mère exécutait un rituel quotidien consistant à attacher les doigts de son enfant au porte-bébé tout en murmurant des incantations. Plus la création était soignée et belle, plus l’âme avait de chances de demeurer avec l’enfant, et plus les visages étaient expressifs, plus ils étaient en mesure de protéger le bébé des esprits malveillants.

Tant par l’équilibre de la composition que dans la finesse de la sculpture, cette œuvre transcende sa fonction utilitaire et exalte le pouvoir de protection qui lui était conféré. La beauté de sa patine originelle et les incrustations de disques de bambou l’inscrivent parmi les plus anciens chefs-d’œuvre du corpus. 

In their seminal study, Whittier and Whittier (Baby Carriers. A Link Between Social and Spiritual Values Among the Kenyah Dayak of Borneo, 1988) established three categories of baby carriers in the Kenyah-Kayan complex of the Dayak: those with a basketry back decorated with a beaded mesh, those supported by sculpted wooden or bone frames, and those made of hardwood - such as this one - with faces sculpted in high relief. This latter type, the use of which was reserved for high-ranking families, is both the most rare and the most remarkable.

Its very narrow corpus is mostly preserved in museum collections: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. No. 1987.453.2); Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, Paris (inv. No. 70.2001.27.215); Fowler Museum, Los Angeles (inv. No. FMCHX 85.1076); Sainsbury Center for Visual Arts, Norwich (inv. No. UEA 797); Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven (inv. No. 2012.30.554 and inv. No. ILE2012.30.288); National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh (inv. No. A.1981.127). There are also six works held in private hands and identified by Bernard Grunne. (Dayak, 2015, p. 81).

According to Dayak beliefs, in the early days of a child's life, the soul was not firmly attached. In order to induce the soul to definitively bind itself to the child, the mother would perform a daily ritual where she tied the fingers of her child to the baby carrier whilst murmuring incantations. The more beautiful and sophisticated the creation, the likelier it was that the soul would stay with the child, and the more expressive the faces, the better they could protect the baby from malevolent spirits.

Both in the balance of the composition and in the refinement of the sculpture, this work transcends its utilitarian function and enhances the protective power conferred upon it. The beauty of its original patina and the bamboo disc inlays place it among the earliest masterpieces of the corpus.