Standing male ancestor figure «itara»
Ataúro Island, Timor-Leste (Ost Timor), Indonesien
wood, dull dark brown patina, ascetic slender body, high-legged, with thin arms carved free of the body, the neck carved with a ring, supporting a narrow head, the length accentuated by a sharp nose ridge, slightly dam., crack (face), place of repair (left arm), abrasion, on metal plate; wood sculpture from the mountainous island of Ataúro remained virtually unknown in the West until the early 1970s. Most of the surviving examples consist of ancestor images, known as «itara». Carved in male/female pairs, «itara» portray distant ancestral couples, the semi-legendary founders of families and lineages. They were kept in special houses for sacred objects called «ruma lululi». The role of the «itara» remains largly undocumented. The figures are reportedly used in the detection of thieves. In another rite, held in honour of the deities «Lé-Kali» and «Mimítu», five «itara» are assembled to form the symbolic crew of a miniature boat.
H: 28,5 cm

Lit.: Kjellgren, Eric, Oceania: Art of the Pacific Islands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2007, p. 246, ill. 144 f.