Wooden figure of a male divine figure with raised up arms, representing the creator of the world

Divine sons
In addition to the creator, the set includes his two wives, two sons, the two wives of the eldest son, an adopted son and the latter’s two wives. One figure is missing in the Tropenmuseum series: one of the adopted son’s wives was stolen from the museum in the 1940s.
The adopted son is different from the rest. It is a korwar, an ancestor figure rather than a deity. A skull has been inserted into a hollow. By including the figure in the series, the makers showed that the ancestor had been adopted into the divine family.

Stretching arms
The gods guarded over the people. The figure holds his arms outstretched. This is the pose assumed by dancers in the fan nanggi ceremony, literally ‘feeding the heavens’. When the arms started to tremble, it was a sign that the god had descended.

Helmets
The creator and his sons are wearing headgear reminiscent of old Dutch and Portuguese helmets. That can be explained. The island of Waigeo had long been under the control of the sultan of Tidore, an island in the northern Moluccas. And Tidore had come within the orbit of the Dutch and Portuguese early on. Inhabitants of Tidore are known to have worn old European helmets or replicas at festivals in the 1930s.

Gods and ancestors
This group of statues combines two traditions. One is the use of figures as divine images, in which the deity becomes manifest on specific occasions. This use of statues originated in the Indonesian islands. The use of statues as ancestor repositories and the ideas associated with this relate to the religious experience of the Papuans. The ancestor would be permanently present in the appointed statue.

circa 71 x 70 x 20cm (27 15/16 x 27 9/16 x 7 7/8in.)

Source: collectie.tropenmuseum.nl