In the centre of the villages in the Maprik region (tribes: Abelam, Wosera, Arapesh, et al.) there is always a large men’s dwelling with a very high, brightly painted front gable. It consists of palm leaf sheaths painted with ancestor figures and faces. At the bottom, this brightly painted front is bordered by a thick crossbeam (above a small doorway). This beam is carved and painted with ancestral heads.
The present object is part of such a crossbeam (or lintel) of a men’s dwelling of the Abelam. The left end of the beam is old and authentic (painted). The right end has been carved fairly recently. The beam has 7 ancestor heads carved in relief and painted – just like the entire beam – with natural colours: black, white, yellow and red. The object has rectangular, small holes from the earlier installment on the mens’ dwelling and some cracks due to age. A rare object!
First half of the 20th century or earlier. L: 160 cm, H: 22 cm to 25 cm. (ME)

Provenance: Dr. Klaus Spiess Collection, Vienna.

Lit.: ‘Art Papou’, Catalogue Marseille, ill.: 299, p. 296, 297.

additional picture:
Men’s house in a village of the Abelam: The high façade is painted with colourful portraits of ancestors on palm leaf sheaths, under which the cross beam with painted ancestors’ heads in relief is visible (here cat. no. 270 and in the photograph red arrow in the centre). Three wooden, painted hornbills hang on either side of the beam (here cat. no. 272 and in the photograph red arrows left and right).
Photo from ‘Kultur der Abelam’ by Gerd Koch, Berlin, fig. p. 9.