Papuan Gulf Drum (probably Urama Island, Papua New Guinea)

This distinctive drum comes from the Papuan Gulf cultural region of southern New Guinea and is probably associated with Urama Island. The elongated wooden body terminates in a characteristic pointed lower section, covered with deeply incised ornamental designs and a stylized ancestral face.

The carved face and surrounding geometric and spiral motifs are particularly reminiscent of the visual language of the Gope, the carved ancestral boards of the Papuan Gulf. Gope boards represented ancestral and spiritual beings and were kept in men's ceremonial houses. The close relationship between such imagery and the decoration of musical instruments illustrates the integration of sculpture, ancestral representation and ceremonial performance within the artistic traditions of the region.

The lower end of Papuan Gulf drums is frequently shaped as an open mouth or jaw. In the literature this feature has variously been described as a “fish mouth,” “shark mouth” or “crocodile mouth” and has been interpreted in connection with the idea of the drum as a “speaking” instrument. The precise meaning of the imagery on the present drum, however, cannot be established with certainty.

Historical photographs provide valuable comparative evidence for this cultural context. A photograph shows a group of Gope spirit boards, whose carved faces and geometric compositions demonstrate the close visual relationship between ancestral imagery and the decoration found on objects from the region. Another historical photograph, showing the interior of a men's house in the Purari Delta, records similarly shaped carved drums among the ceremonial objects of the house.

Bibliography:
Williams, F. E. (1940): Drama of Orokolo. The Social and Ceremonial Life of the Elema.
Wirz, Paul: Beiträge zur Ethnographie des Papua-Golfes, Britisch-Neuguinea.
Welsch, Robert L.; Webb, Virginia-Lee; Haraha, Sebastian (2006): Coaxing the Spirits to Dance: Art and Society in the Papuan Gulf of New Guinea.
Newton, Douglas (1961): Art Styles of the Papuan Gulf. The Museum of Primitive Art, New York.
Hamson, Michael (2010): Red Eye of the Sun: The Art of the Papuan Gulf.
Lewis, Albert Buell (1925): Decorative Art of New Guinea.
Chauvet, Stephen (1930): Les arts indigènes en Nouvelle-Guinée.
Friede, John (2005): New Guinea Art – Masterpieces of the Jolika Collection from Marcia and John Friede.
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Kelm, Heinz (1966): Kunst vom Sepik.