Oceania, Melanesia, Vanuatu, Malampa Province, southern Malekula Island, ca. 19th century CE. An intriguing example of an overmodeled human skull from a larger ancestral figure known as a rambaramp. The front of the skull is covered in a thick layer of mud 'skin' that is painted with black pigment across the cheeks as well as orange-red pigment along the ears, mouth, and forehead. Rambaramp skulls were traditionally part of a larger effigy figure made from wood and fiber as keeping the skull was of great symbolic significance. The facial decorations are intended to emulate what the face of the deceased looked like while they were alive and participating in ceremonial rituals. Size: 8.8" L x 5.8" W x 7.4" H (22.4 cm x 14.7 cm x 18.8 cm); 11.4" H (29 cm) on included custom stand.
For an example of a full Rambaramp effigy figure with nearly identical painted facial decorations, please see The Brooklyn Museum, accession number 2006.41
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Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Aguttes auction, Paris, France (April 7, 2017, lot 516); ex-Nelson A Rockefeller collection, New York, New York, USA; ex-Museum of Primitive Art, New York, New York USA; ex-private Vente collection, New York, New York, USA; ex-Parke Bennet Galleries (May 4, 1967)
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#154572
Condition
Original mandible missing, however mud layer is intended to compensate by design. Minor nicks to skull and mud, with several stable fissures to mud layer, light fading to original pigment, and minor encrustations, otherwise intact and excellent. Smooth surfaces across exposed bone as well as nice remains of original mud and pigment across face.