Purari Delta Gope Spirit Board-New Guinea Art-Oceanic Art
This is a rare form of Papuan Gulf spirit board from the Purari Delta area. I was collected in the 1940s by the Australian army officer Allan Henrey Skiller. See the attached page of similar Purari Delta boards collected by A. B. Lewis in 1912 now in the Field Museum in Chicago. The present example dates to the early 20th century, is 39 ½” (100.2 cm) in height.