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The Brooklyn Museum

Collections: Arts of the Pacific Islands




Mortuary Figure (Korwar)

Mortuary Figure (Korwar). Republic of Indonesia, Irian Jaya, Northwest Coast, Cenderawasih Bay, 19th century. Wood, 9 1/4 x 5 3/4 in. (23.5 x 14.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Frank L. Babbott Fund, 62.18.2

Korwar figures serve to keep the surviving relatives in contact with their deceased ancestors and thus always able to secure their powerful blessings. They serve as a medium of communication between the living and the dead. Korwars may be standing or squatting figures. The heads are large in relation to the highly abstract bodies; the chin is usually straight, horizontal, and broad; and the nose is the most prominent facial feature. This highly unusual double figure holds a shield (now partially eroded). The shield has been said to derive from the snake, which in turn represents rejuvenation and regeneration, a key idea in the religion of the people of Cenderawasih Bay.

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