Cooking Pot
Boiken, Papua New Guinea, early 20th C
PROVENANCE: John and Marcia Friede, Rye, NY. Similar example published: Patricia May and Margaret Tuckson. 1982. "Traditional Pottery of Papua New Guinea". p. 257, f. 9.84.

Pottery traditions proliferate in the northern mountainous regions of Papua New Guinea. This cooking pot, from the Boiken, is a fantastic example. The globular pot exhibits an indented neck and flared lip, a common characteristic of Boiken cooking and storage pots. The pot is not decorated except for a single human face, most likely representing an ancestral spirit. The face is simplistic; just the eyes, nose, mouth, and a raised line are carved to delineate the face from the body of the pot. The vessels are made using the coil technique and are then shaped by chip-carving when the surface is not quite dry. This leaves the bowls beautifully texturized, visible on this particular example. The pot is very old, a rare find.

Height: 6 1/4" in.
IN 12-5-13 / SOLD