5 Ft Rare Hand carved Tiki Tambaran Spirit Savi Statue Totem Sepik Art PNG 36A1
We have closed our art gallery doors so everything has been reduced!
Item 36A1 in our inventory.
Savi Spirit tall Statue, collected in Korogo village on the Sepik.
Such important Items are rarely sold because of their spiritual value.
On photo 2, you see a similar face on the front of the men's haus Tambaran.
This one, however, came from the Korogo Haus Tambaran where it was displayed when we found it.
The statue is 5 feet tall, (60" tall, 16" wide).
Korogo carvers use a very fine, detailed style in the painting of their clan designs on the faces of their carvings.
They are known for their large orator's stools like this statue. We sold such tall art from 6,000.00 to 9,000.00 in the past, but because we closed our gallery doors, this one has been greatly reduced to liquidate what we have left.
.You are buying the tall (full body adult size 5 feet) Tiki Savi statue collected 20 years ago directly from a spirit house or Haus Tambaran, entirely hand carved by an artist from the Sepik River province, adorned with hand painted pigment motifs that have not faded, nassa shells (inserted in the forehead) and a crown of cassowary feathers as an additional headgear decoration (as worn by the warriors) and sealed in river mud. The ancestor face eyes are spiral shell sections (conus shell) and his ears are decorated with hand twisted natural bark twine.
The curvilinear lines on the face represent cuscus (oppossum) tails. The term is mabma, kapul in Tok Pisin. This marsupial with its blunt, rounded face, spotted coat and curling prehensile tail is extremely important to the Iatmul.
A headband of cuscus fur signified the "homicide" in times past - that the man had killed at least once and was revered as a result. The color slashes on the body represent scarification.
The statue was supposed to contain protective magic and formed an integral part of a system of objects which produce an aura of protective power around the Haus Tambaran, making it safe from intruders and and evil spirits.
There are many different types of masks for different purposes: Savi masks & statues are the most powerful of all masks. In the men's ceremonial Haus Tambarans, the orator's stools are savis as also many of the gable masks. The savi mask is one of the tools used as protection against black magic. Easily identified by their eyes that are not holed in (as in the case of a wearable mask), these masks represent aggressive spirits that ward off enemies of the clan and are protective of who owns them.
Savis are supernatural beings and are some of the most powerful spirits recognized in the Sepik culture.
If a village or clan has a lot of bad luck, such as many deaths, the whole group may change their names and buy the rights to use masks from another clan in different village in an attempt to fool the bad spirits or sorcerers. The resulting masks usually display characteristics of both groups.
We go straight to the source to find these treasures.
All our Tribal Sepik river carvings, from Papua New Guinea, were collected on the premises
All our collector and rare items come with pages and pages of research about provenance, and with history of the tribes and photos as well, depending on item and whenever possible. When shipping internationally, we group ship multiple purchases to save you money, and find the best rates available. If you have any questions or want to see research conducted on this piece and photos of tribes, let us know.
Check Dominique Rice Oceania Store in Sun Sentinel Newspaper, Fort Lauderdale, for information on our collection and authentic art.
We have artifacts and architectural accents up to 10 ft tall that we will put on upon request because shipping has to be calculated accordingly with trucking company.