Lake Sentani Neckrest-W. E. C. Veen Collection-New Guinea Art-Oceanic Art
The neckrests from Lake Sentani are quite rare and the few figurative ones are rarer still. This beautiful one was collected around 1916 by the Dutch colonial administrator W. E. C. Veen and is pictured in an early glass-plate photograph taken at the time. The piece dates to the late 19th century, has the torso of a female figure with hypnotic eyes on one end and a crocodile head on the other. It is 19 ½” (49.5 cm) in length and was published in my most recent Parcours des Mondes catalog Three Collections of Oceanic Art, no. 42, pages 116/117. The price is $4800.