Manam Island Food Pounder-New Guinea Art-Oceanic Art
It would be hard to find an older New Guinea food pounder than this beautiful example from Manam Island. It has Janus long nose ancestral spirit faces, faint remains of red pigments and a superb glossy black patina from generations of loving use. The piece was field collected in the 1990s by my friend and colleague Michael Kremerskothen of Dortmund, Germany. The pounder dates to the 19th century, is 11 ½” (29 cm) in height.