Further Reading Page Text:
Highlands Protective Decoy Figure, Papua New Guinea
Decoy figures from the New Guinea Highlands were regarded as the home of protective spirits and were erected alongside special walled enclosures along the perimeter of the village, as they were believed to protect the village from enemy night raids. These figures are exceedingly rare, and this example offered can assuredly be regarded as one of the finest of its type. The majority of known decoy figures are quite stiff sculpturally, but this figure, by contrast, is decidedly animated and whimsical in its form and expression, boldly and confidently carved by a master carver.
The body of the figure still retains its intricate painted motifs, and the figure is adorned with all its original native accoutrements, including a kina shell pectoral and a woven headdress of vividly colored lorikeet and parrot feathers.