Description:

An Important Ancient Stone Mortar and Pestles, Southern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea,
these date from 2000 – 3000 years old.

Some of the earliest known sculpture from Papua New Guinea are a series of ancient stone mortars & pestles unearthed in various locations on the island of New Guinea, primarily in the mountainous highlands of the interior.

These stone sculptures fall into three basic categories: mortars, pestles, and freestanding figures.
Mortars of great form with scalloped edges and pedestal base like this fine example were highly valued by the villagers who often found them when working in their gardens, when found they were cleaned & then coated with red ochre & re-purposed as magical objects that were kept with other ancestral relics. These early stone sculptures are often thought to be of supernatural origin and are reused in a variety of religious contexts, from fertility rituals to hunting magic and sorcery.

Provenance:
Old Collection Australia & The Todd Barlin Collection of Oceanic Art.

  • Dimensions: L 25, 11 cm

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August 8, 2022 6:00 PM AEST
Stanmore, Australia

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A$100 A$299 A$20
A$300 A$499 A$25
A$500 A$999 A$50
A$1,000 A$1,999 A$100
A$2,000 A$4,999 A$200
A$5,000 A$9,999 A$500
A$10,000 A$19,999 A$1,000
A$20,000 A$49,999 A$2,000
A$50,000 A$99,999 A$5,000
A$100,000 A$199,999 A$10,000
A$200,000 A$499,999 A$20,000
A$500,000 + A$50,000