A RARE WOOD ANCESTOR FIGURE, WEST TIMOR

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A RARE WOOD ANCESTOR FIGURE, WEST TIMOR This lot is from a single owner collection and is therefore offered without reserve The Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger, entry from 2005: “No. 230, SU 1974, West Timor” Gallery price: EUR 1,100 or approx. EUR 1,800 adjusted for inflation at the time of writing. Indonesia, late 19th to early 20th century. Boldly carved, the anthropomorphic figure has a prismatic torso supported on two short, widely separated legs that define an arched opening above the long tapering shaft, and an oval head with abstracted facial features, including slanted eyes, a long angular nose, and an open mouth. Important Note: For essential information on the Jorgen Ruben Gallery Ledger and provenance documentation please visit here: www.zacke.at/rubencollection_ledger Dimensions: Height 64.7 cm (excl. stand), 68.3 cm (incl. stand) With an associated wood stand. (2) Timor, at the eastern end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, is among the most culturally complex islands of the Indonesian archipelago. Its modern division between Indonesian West Timor and Timor-Leste grew from rival Dutch and Portuguese spheres associated with the island's lucrative sandalwood trade, yet the border cuts across much older cultural territories. West Timor is inhabited principally by the Atoni, or Atoin Meto, and the Tetun-speaking peoples of Belu and Malaka, together with Bunak, Kemak, and Helong communities. Rugged mountains and isolated valleys fostered strongly localized traditions, while trade, migration, and political alliances connected the island's peoples. In traditional Timorese belief, ancestors were enduring guardians whose authority connected the living to lineage, land, and inherited custom. Carved images of founding ancestors, known as ai tos, took the form of statues or posts and were placed at village entrances, beside graves, on stone altar platforms, and at secluded forest sites. Prayers and offerings sought renewal, protection, and guidance in matters fundamental to communal life. Their frequently columnar and highly abstract forms reflect their dual character as ancestor images and enduring ritual markers. Human imagery was not confined to freestanding sculpture: figures also crowned rice pestles and ceremonial staffs and appeared on house doors, containers, and mortuary spoons. Among the Atoni, ritual horn spoons were used at the farewell meal for the dead, when the departing soul was understood to assume the form of a bird. The elongated format of the present work reflects this close relationship between figure and post. By 1925, the Dutch artist and traveler W.O.J. Nieuwenkamp observed that Timorese sculpture had become rare and difficult to find; much older Timorese sculpture survives in relatively small numbers and often without full documentation of its origin or use. Literature comparison: Compare a related Timor wood ancestral statue, dated 19th-early 20th century, 111.1 cm high, in the Dallas Museum of Art, object number 2014.39. Compare a wood rice pestle with a similar figure at the top, dated 19th-early 20th century, the pestle 181 cm high, in the Yale University Art Gallery, loan number ILE2012.30.159.

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