Part of a bird figure for the Malagan ceremonies of the dead

Malagan sculptures depict human- and animal-like figures that embody mythical beings and ancestors. The eyes are inlaid with the operculum (meaning i.e. little lid) of a sea slug, which gives the figures their penetrating gaze.

All the statues are bearers of ancestral powers, which are manifest in the ornamental patterns and animals symbolizing a particular ancestral line. The bird’s-head figure is likely such a symbol, with the intricate decoration above the head symbolizing growth and fertility.

This head was once attached to a body made of bark cloth, the finely beaten fibrous layer found between a tree’s bark and trunk.