Wearing its Tuwu crown, this sculpted subject forms an ancestor figure, a reduced version of the monumental statues presiding over judgments, trials and executions for various transgressions and placed in the houses of chiefs. Nias is the largest of the islands of North Sumatra, in the Indian Ocean. The figures of ancestors of the Nias (men) are associated with local creation myths, according to which a heroic figure named Hia came from the celestial regions to the banks of the Gomo.
REGION: Indonesia
MATERIAL: Wood, glossy brown patina
PERIOD: 20th century
DIMENSION: 41.5 x 8.5 x 7.5 cm
inventory number: AS029