Description
Atoni ceremonial skull Timor Indonesia Bone. Dimensions: 24.5 x 18 cm Provenance: Private collection: Private collection Acquired in San Francisco in 2004 The expressive power of the figure is matched by the high degree of technicality of this work from the Atoni area. This people, the majority of the Timorese population, lived mainly from agriculture and livestock, and organized their society around agrarian rituals, which involved honoring the divinities of heaven and earth. Carved from the front of boar or horse skulls, these figures are important ceremonial objects used in rituals led by shamans known as dunkun. During these ceremonies, animals were captured, sacrificed and eaten, their skulls then being prepared according to a precise ritual, and enriched with magical concoctions. The shaman then proceeded to engrave the skulls, the final step in a ritual process designed to connect with the spirits. The evanescent appearance of this effigy is rendered by the milky whiteness of the skull, whose surface representing the body is decorated with complex geometric patterns engraved and painted in black, consisting of lines, circles, lozenges and dots, as well as by its organic form with indistinct contours. Spreading out like wings, the arching bones form empty spaces on either side of the head, contributing to the celestial, ethereal character attributed to this spiritual figure. The upper part of the skull features a stylized face with expressive features, whose sobriety contrasts with the refinement of the body's ornamentation. The almond-shaped eyes pierced through the bone and the half-open mouth, with lowered corners, give the figure a frozen, enigmatic and elusive expression. The superciliary arches reinforce the gravity of the gaze, and are carved into the extension of the triangular nose with its hemmed nostrils. The ritual practice of carving animal skulls refers to the animist belief system of the Atoni people Atoni people's animistic belief system, which was not extinguished by the introduction of Christianity to the territory in the 1910s. Maintaining sacred relationships with nature spirits, deceased ancestors and the deities that populate their environment, the Atoni seek through their rituals to capture vital energy and sacred essence, in order to maintain harmony between the natural and spiritual worlds.
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Atoni ceremonial skull Timor Indonesia Bone. Dimensions: 24.5 x 18 cm Provenance: Private collection: Private collection Acquired in San Francisco in 2004 The expressive power of the figure is matched by the high degree of technicality of this work from the Atoni area. This people, the majority of the Timorese population, lived mainly from agriculture and livestock, and organized their society around agrarian rituals, which involved honoring the divinities of heaven and earth. Carved from the front of boar or horse skulls, these figures are important ceremonial objects used in rituals led by shamans known as dunkun. During these ceremonies, animals were captured, sacrificed and eaten, their skulls then being prepared according to a precise ritual, and enriched with magical concoctions. The shaman then proceeded to engrave the skulls, the final step in a ritual process designed to connect with the spirits. The evanescent appearance of this effigy is rendered by the milky whiteness of the skull, whose surface representing the body is decorated with complex geometric patterns engraved and painted in black, consisting of lines, circles, lozenges and dots, as well as by its organic form with indistinct contours. Spreading out like wings, the arching bones form empty spaces on either side of the head, contributing to the celestial, ethereal character attributed to this spiritual figure. The upper part of the skull features a stylized face with expressive features, whose sobriety contrasts with the refinement of the body's ornamentation. The almond-shaped eyes pierced through the bone and the half-open mouth, with lowered corners, give the figure a frozen, enigmatic and elusive expression. The superciliary arches reinforce the gravity of the gaze, and are carved into the extension of the triangular nose with its hemmed nostrils. The ritual practice of carving animal skulls refers to the animist belief system of the Atoni people Atoni people's animistic belief system, which was not extinguished by the introduction of Christianity to the territory in the 1910s. Maintaining sacred relationships with nature spirits, deceased ancestors and the deities that populate their environment, the Atoni seek through their rituals to capture vital energy and sacred essence, in order to maintain harmony between the natural and spiritual worlds.
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