ANCESTOR FIGURE, BERHALA
Damar Island, Maluku Tenggara, Indonesia
19th C.
Wood
One of only two known male ancestor altars, berhala, from Damar, the other being in the former Tropenmuseum collection, now integrated in that of Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde in Leyden. The latter example has a more elaborately carved backboard, but a smaller and more basically rendered figure. As is common for such figures, the ancestor's erect member was somewhat shortened, no doubt by or at the instigation of a missionary. The curly shapes at the top and bottom of the backboard represent boats with their stevens turned inward, and a tree of life that grows from its keel. The boat is the central symbol of the island region, and stands for the family, the household, the village, and its success in the world. The type of wood has not been established, but may well be rhododendron. Note that sculpture and backboard are all of a piece. From old Dutch collection.
Condition: Very good
Provenance: Johan Polak Works of Art, Amsterdam
Literature: De Jonge and Van Dijk, Forgotten Islands, Fig. 4.25. Robyn Maxwell, Life, Death and Magic, p. 227. Both show the only other known berhala.
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