Wooden ancestral figure with an openwork shield

Korwars
Ancestor figures were made throughout New Guinea as home to villagers who have died. When crises threatened, such as disease or war, Papuans, the inhabitants of New Guinea, would consult their ancestors and bring offerings.

Etna expedition
What makes this korwar so unusual is its age. It was acquired in New Guinea in 1858 by the very first Dutch scientific expedition to the island. The Etna expedition was named after the Etna, the ship on which the researchers explored the New Guinea coast. Most of the items brought back by expedition members have long since vanished. The records of the voyage were less than thorough. However, the report of the Etna expedition contains a drawing of this figure. And the report was published in 1862 with the illustration as a litho.

Vanished
It was long thought that this korwar, like other objects collected by the Etna expedition, was lost. Apparently, it had last been shown at the Paris Exposition in 1931. The Dutch pavilion had been destroyed in a fire and so the korwar was believed to have vanished too. Then in 2002, the Tropenmuseum’s Oceania curator found this figure in the museum depot and spotted its similarity to the figure in the report. It turned out to be part of the so-called Artis collection. Many of the items brought back by the Etna expedition had been acquired by Amsterdam’s Artis zoo in the 19th century. These were given to the newly founded Colonial Museum, predecessor of today’s Tropenmuseum, in 1911. It had probably languished in the depot since 1926, when the present building opened. Now it is on display in the Tropenmuseum’s New Guinea presentation as one of the oldest korwars in the Netherlands.

circa 41 x 12cm (16 1/8 x 4 3/4in.)

Source: collectie.tropenmuseum.nl