ARTIST UNKNOWN, YOLGNU PEOPLE | Untitled, Female Mokoy Figure

Likely to have been created at Yirrkala, circa 1947, north east Arnhem Land, Northern Territory
Private Collection, United Kingdom
Sotheby's Important Aboriginal Art, 7 June 2011, lot 119
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Please note both legs have been restored from the knee down, the proper right leg restoration has been glued, the proper left leg restoration has used new timber for the restoration. A crack approximately 4mm deep runs from the crotch longitudely upwards to under the chin. There are minor areas of scuffing and pigment loss on multiple areas of the figure. There are multiple small insect holes on the proper left of the figure which are no longer active. This figure is sold with a custom made metal stand.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The Yolngu of eastern Arnhem Land have a very strong tradition of ceremonial figure carving in wood that from the mid-twentieth century extended to sculptures for the tourist trade and for the art market. Ceremonial sculptures are usually decorated in painted and incised clan patterns and often adorned with lengths of feathered string. Types of figure sculptures range from post-like forms, known as wuramu that were influenced by Makasar funerary poles, through to complex constructions of images of ancestors in human and animal form. A type of figure sculpture that permeates Yolngu art is the mokuy, a description originally applied to figures of trickster spirits of deceased people that haunt the environs of the body and is avoided by the living. In recent decades the definition of a mokuy has extended to include figure sculptures of a range spirit beings and ancestors. This particularly rare figure relates to two examples collected by the anthropologists Ronald and Catherine Berndt at Yirrkala in 1947. Both of these figures are coated in red ochre and decorated with incised designs. One of these figures, by Narritjin Maymuru (c.1914-1982), is a mokuy representing a spirit being; the other by Mungurruwuy Yunupingu (c.1905-1979) represents a Japanese man named Kimasima, a cook on a Japanese lugger who was speared by Aborigines at Caledon Bay in 1932.¹ This carving… ‘ is red-ochred and incised, with vertical lines signifying dal (daal) or power’.²

The figure included in this sale has a thickset neck similar to the spirit figure carving in Berndt and Berndt and appears to represent an elderly female figure, indicated by the drooping breasts. The pointed legs, with the ochre worn away below the knee, suggest that this figure may have been placed in the ground during ceremony.

WC

1 See Ronald M. Berndt and Catherine H. Berndt, with John E. Stanton, Aboriginal Art, A Visual Perspective, Methuen Australia, Sydney, 1982. Narritjin Maymuru’s figure is illustrated at Plate 82, p.90: Mungurruwuy Yunupingu’s at Plate 89, p.94.

2 ibid., p.160