Producer unknown to us
Melanesia, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, New Ireland (Niu Ailan)
Late 19th century
Wood (Alstonia scholaris) carved, sea snail (Turbo petholatus), color pigments
Purchased in 1904 by Ludolf Kummer, planter and trader in New Ireland.
Inv. No. 68616
In addition to small animals, malanggan carvings also depict animals of larger size. These animals were designed as additional decorations for the local exhibition house, but do not occupy the central position of the anthropomorphic toktok, which were especially reserved for the honored deceased.
According to collector Ludolf Kummer, the large malanggan figure in our exhibition was listed in early catalogs as “Mask sangen, in memory of the death of a boy.” However, it is actually a guardian figure placed in front of or underneath the malanggan masks on display, depicting a flying fish. The main body of the figure shows the head of a fish with a man in its mouth. Large fins are tucked into the sides at the back. The front end is decorated with a carved frigatebird's head. In New Ireland, the motif of a fish devouring a man is a symbol of death.
The figure was carved from soft light wood, probably Alstonia villosa, painted with the typical black, white, and red pigments, and completed with the shells of the Turbo petholatus sea snail as eyes.
Malanggan art is ephemeral, left to rot, burned or sold to European visitors after the sculptures have been displayed on the grave and the images embodied in them have been passed on to the next generation. Each family association has its own malanggan images, which they pass on within the family or may sell to other associations, and are transformed from memory into new malanggan items by commissioned carvers. The images of malanggan art are invisible most of the time and are recalled from memory for production, display, and transformation in the final phase of the funeral ceremony.
Objects are reproduced in such manner that each is reminiscent of an object seen in the past. The images that characterize these objects are recurrent and stereotypical, yet vary to such an extent that no object is a replica of another.