wood, bamboo, rattan, greyish brown patina, 62 wooden sticks with indicated ("adu zatua") heads, with rattan fixed to wooden strip, sticks partly missing, dam.;
long strings of sticks made of different types of wood called "priests" figures ("adu bihara") consist of 50 to 100 finger-sized pieces of wood. The row is kept in the roof beams of a novice priest's house. The "adu bihara" are used ritually as they are dwelling places for benevolent spirits. They also serve for a practical purpose by acquainting the priest with the types of wood from which images are made (there are up to 30 types of wood used for the images).
L: 151 cm; H: ca.19 cm, L: 59,4 inch; H: ca.7,5 inch
Provenance:
Heinrich Sundermann, Ladbergen/Göttingen, Germany
Lit.: Feldman, Jerome, The eloquent dead, Los Angeles 1985, p. 52
Continent: Asia

See description