Central New Ireland, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New-Guinea, Melanesia Uli 19th/20th century. Wood, (turbo marmoratus operculum), vegetable fiber, pigments and wax 136 x 24 x 22 cm Provenance: Deacquisitioned from the Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin circa 1905. Acquired from Marie-Ange Ciolskowska by Henri & Hélène Kamer (Galerie Kamer, Paris) circa 1955-56. Exhibited in ARTS D'OCEANIE at Galerie Kamer in 1966, inv. Nº C450. Sold at auction by Sotheby's London, 25 & 26 June 1984, lot N° 63. Subsequently in a North American private collection. This sculpture is accompanied by the French ”Certificat pour un bien cuturel“ Exhibition history and literature reference: ”ARTS D'OCEANIE“. Exhibition catalogue, Galerie Kamer, Paris, 1966, N° 22. Sotheby's, London, 25 & 26 June 1984, lot N° 63, p. 27. A large, hermaphrodite, freestanding Uli figure. It is the most important element of a religious cult also known as Uli that is specific to the central area of New Ireland. The main event is a fertility ritual during which Uli figures were displayed in groups of two or three under the roof of a small shelter constructed in the sacred enclosure of the initiated men. The main ritual involved the burying of one or more human skulls amongst the shoots of sacred plants at the feet of the Uli symbolizing life and death. While the Uli represents an ancestral image for many specialists it is now believed that the Uli does not represent a specific or even generic ancestor but personifies a form of vital force or energy : the essence of the group - the power of the initiated men - that it is the tangible expression of their existence and strength.