Lot Essay
The large carved wooden figures from Central New Ireland are rightly regarded as the most impressive sculptures from Melanesia. The powerful standing figures, so obviously male, were considered to be hermaphrodites until researchers pointed out that the breasts were more likely to represent the false wooden breasts men strapped on for some dances. Dr. Philip C. Gifford, in his informative entry for the two uli in the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva, writes "Such dances with their emphasis on ideas of fertility are echoed in the Uli Ceremony by performances which deal quite directly with male and female sex differences. The 'breasts' of the uli are always shown framed by relief arches and set off by a vertically-scored horizontal band beneath. This complex could designate the false breasts referred to earlier, with a fiber fringe hanging beneath. This convention suggests the chief's responsibilities to the female division of the village while he was still alive."
Gifford explains that the uli were carved to be displayed at the climax of a series of feast-performances which made up the Uli Ceremony. The feasts were connected with the death of a village headman and were held at intervals of a month for a full year after the chief's death. The spirit of the dead chief would be inveigled to inhabit the figure and thus become available to guide and council the chief's successor. Feasts would be held whilst the figure was carved, thus strengthening bonds between the villagers: the display for the Uli Ceremony would symbolise the political bonds with the neighbouring villages. Each figure would have a small hut built for it, when it would have been offered sacrifices, such as a pig. After the Uli Ceremony the figures would be returned to their respective villages, easily identified by the different carved ornaments.
Gifford relates how the Uli Ceremony originated on the Lelet Plateau and expanded to the coast of Central New Ireland during the 19th century. All the large figures were collected during the second half of the 19th century and the present example is believed to have been acquired by Mr. Bretschneider through an exchange with a German museum.
Gifford explains that the uli were carved to be displayed at the climax of a series of feast-performances which made up the Uli Ceremony. The feasts were connected with the death of a village headman and were held at intervals of a month for a full year after the chief's death. The spirit of the dead chief would be inveigled to inhabit the figure and thus become available to guide and council the chief's successor. Feasts would be held whilst the figure was carved, thus strengthening bonds between the villagers: the display for the Uli Ceremony would symbolise the political bonds with the neighbouring villages. Each figure would have a small hut built for it, when it would have been offered sacrifices, such as a pig. After the Uli Ceremony the figures would be returned to their respective villages, easily identified by the different carved ornaments.
Gifford relates how the Uli Ceremony originated on the Lelet Plateau and expanded to the coast of Central New Ireland during the 19th century. All the large figures were collected during the second half of the 19th century and the present example is believed to have been acquired by Mr. Bretschneider through an exchange with a German museum.