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Hôtel des Ventes de Troyes

4 - Pestle - Sepik River - Papua New Guinea - France Provenance:…
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Estimate €80 - €150
Sale commission
Description
Pestle - Sepik River - Papua New Guinea - France Provenance: Former Guy Seghers collection (Belgium). Collected in Papua New Guinea between 1970 and 1980 during scientific missions linked to the Leopold III Biological Station on Laing Island. Archives and period photographs preserved. Materials: Wood Dimensions: H. 48 cm. This wooden pestle has a slender, elegantly tapered shape, topped with fine carved decoration. The upper part is decorated with a stylised head with bulging eyes and a protruding nose, framed by registers of incised geometric motifs. These decorative elements, treated with great restraint, recall the aesthetic conventions of many sculptures from the Sepik region, where the human figure mediates between the world of the living and that of the ancestors. Pestles of this type were used to grind various food or vegetable substances, but some richly carved examples also had symbolic and ceremonial value. In Sepik societies, even utilitarian objects could be decorated to evoke tutelary spirits or founding ancestors, thus integrating everyday activities into a wider spiritual universe.
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About the sale ARTS OF AFRICA & OCEANIA: Three exceptional family collections
Auction location
Auction time 06/22/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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