Tami Island Figure-Van Lier Collection-New Guinea Art-Oceanic Art
This superb old Tami Island figure is featured in my 2016 catalog “Between the Known and Unknown: New Guinea Art from Astrolabe Bay to Morobe” as fig. 64. As many of you know old Tami Island figures are super rare as this was an area that had some of the very first missionaries to New Guinea. The figure dates to the late 19th century and has a great provenance coming from the Leendert van Lier Collection and sold at Christies Amsterdam on 15 April 1997 (lot 174). It is 15 ½” (39.3 cm) in height.