Flute figure

Men of the Mundugumor and their neighbors customarily owned sacred bamboo flutes of up to eight feet in length, precious heirlooms preserved by families. During feasts and ceremonial occasions such as initiations of young men into the ashin, or crocodile, cult (one of the few cults anthropologists observed among the Mundugumor), men played the flutes sideways. When not using the instruments, owners wrapped them in mats and inserted wooden stopper figures to protect the upper end of the bamboo tube close to the mouth hole. Many such figures reside in museums and private collections, and this one closely resembles the others. The dwarfed body with dangling arms is overpowered by the prominent head, which the Mundugumor consider the most sacred part of the body. A carver created the wooden part of the stopper, and members of the community attached prestigious materials such as feathers, hair, and shells to the holes around the high-domed, bearded head. All of the attachments have disappeared except the ear ornaments of shell and metal 1928-29 head-tax token of the territory of New Guinea. The dark overall coloring, which may have been applied after the work arrived in Europe, emphasizes the white shell eyes.