The auction house uses the research of Karel Weener’s eventful story of missionaries, a geography teacher and the dreams of the surrealists (Steinharts biecht = Steunharts confession).
The object comes from the Henry Blekkinks Collection. The 32 centimetre high figure of a seated man, whose abstracted face shows a row of dramatically bared teeth, is wrapped in a red body cloth.
The label under the plinth identifies it as a carving from the island of Biak in Cenderawasih Bay.
Blekkink probably associated the figure with the land of his childhood, its creators with an ancestor.
Estimated 15,000 to 20,000 euros.
