Boiken Cuscus Amulet Figure-Pre-contact New Guinea Art
Here is an ancient amulet figure from the Boiken culture living in Papua New Guinea’s Prince Alexander Mountains. It features two cuscus marsupials clasping each other head to tail. Cuscus are a sought after game animal and an amulet such as this would have been used to enlist spiritual assistance in their capture. It is a pre-contact, stone-carved figure of great age formerly in the collection of John Friede. I published this in my Paris 2012 catalog, no. 17, page 34. It dates to the 19th century, is 6 1/8” (15.6 cm) in height.