106 - Hook with a top head

Hook with a top head with a lunar-like appearance Hardwood, antique honey- and brown-colored patina, signs of wear. Probably Iatmul, Middle Sepik region, Papua New Guinea. 82 x 29 cm The oval head, with features reduced to the essentials, surmounts an openwork composition organized around a large diamond shape. The raised side points echo the lower crescent, creating a balance of curves and angles that gives this sculpture its graphic elegance. In the Middle Sepik, these hanging hooks were used to store provisions and valuable goods in bags suspended from the roof trusses. Known as samban or tshambwan among the Iatmul, they could also represent ancestral beings and serve as intermediaries with the spirits in ceremonial houses. Documentary references: Bowers Museum, Santa Ana, “Kept in Suspense: The Samban of the Iatmul,” May 24, 2018, an online study devoted to the domestic and ceremonial uses of these hooks. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Suspension Hook (Samban or Tshambwan), Iatmul, Kanganaman, Middle Sepik, inv. 1978.412.1534.