Chambri Hook for War Magic, Papua New Guinea

Wood, pigments
H. 56cm

Provenance:

Private Collection, Basel

Price:

On Request

In the area of Lake Chambri, near the Middle Sepik, hooks were used for war magic. In times of war, a bundle of areca nuts was attached to each side for magical purposes: the one on the left to bring misfortune to the enemy, the one on the right to bring luck to the warriors.

This sculpture, hidden in a Swiss collection until now, is an important addition to the corpus of Lake Chambri hooks. A comparable example is exhibited in the permanent collection of the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac; another, collected by Paul Wirz, is published in Museum für Völkerkunde Basel – Ethnographische Kostbarkeiten, p. 75.