An exceptionally fine, and very early, ceremonial food-bowl in the form of an eagle. The wings are carved as stylized, well-muscled, human arms swept back and ending with the hands holding the bowls rim. The elbows are drilled possibly for tassels or for a suspension system – ancestor skulls were often placed in decorated bowls suspended from the rafters of the Spirit House. The eagle’s head juts from a pair of powerful human shoulders. This bird-bowl is one of the very few examples with anthropomorphic features and may illustrate a previously un-recorded metamorphosis relating to local mythology. The eagle’s tail is shown as five horizontal strips of wood forming a squared appendage. The underside of the bowl is completely decorated with incised motifs resembling the disposition of the stars in the heavens. There are two forked tails to either side of the four cylindrical feet which possibly represent fishtails.

Admiralty Islands, Bismarck Archipelago, PNG, Melanesia. Hard wood with remains of lime infill and a superb glossy patina of wear and age. Old damage to the tail and beak. Remains of an old paper label between the feet. 49 x 30,2 Ø x 19,6 cm. 19th century or earlier and carved with stone tools.

Exhibited : Exposition d’Art Africain et d’Art Oceanien at the Theatre Pigalle, Paris, 1930 (Organisée par les services d’art du Theatre Pigalle sous la direction de M.V. Marquetty). See the photograph of the exhibition showing the bowl.
Published : Catalogue of the Exposition d’Art Africain et d’Art Oceanien, Galerie Pigalle, 1930, N° 347, page 25.

Provenance : Galerie Heymann, Paris, 1925; acquired by Béla Heim, Paris (before 1931) ; then by descent to his niece Giselle Weinberger. Sold Hotel Drouot, Delorme & Fraysse Auctionneers, lot 60, 15/12/2000. The private collection of Antoine Godeau, Paris.

Béla Hein seems to have begun his collection in 1910 when he arrived in Paris from Belgium. He died in 1931 and most of the pieces in the collection were not seen again after 1935. He and his wife had a gallery located at 23 rue des Saint Peres, which they seem to have opened around 1923. Very little is known about Bela Hein - his manner of collecting and his sources remain obscure. It seems, that most of the great African art in his collection including his famous collection of Lega ivories were supplied by the Belgian dealer Henri Pareyn.

Bibliographical references :

• Kaufmann, Christian; Kocher-schmid, Christin ; Ohnemus, Sylvia (ed.) : ADIMIRALTY ISLANDS, Art from the South Seas. Museum Rietberg, Zurich, 2002, fig. 54 – 58.
• Meyer, Anthony JP: OCEANIC ART / OZEANISCHE KUNST / ART OCEANIEN. Könemann Verlag, Köln. 1995, fig. 367.
• Ohnemus, Sylvia: AN ETHNOLOGY OF THE ADMIRALTY ISLANDS, The Alfred Bühler Collection, Museum der Kulturen, Basel, Crawford House Publishing, Bathurst, 1998, fig. 272.
• Parkinson, Richard: THIRTY YEARS IN THE SOUTH SEAS. English translation, Crawford House Publishing, Bathurst, 1999, fig. 63.