(2) Papua New Guinean Sepik Tribe Carved Wood Objects. One is a stylized female figure with outspread, symmetrical arms and legs akimbo, a painted face, cowry shell eyes, and dangling fiber adornments, often referred to as a "Highway Meri" or "Merry Woman" carving. The other is a wooden sword with beadwork wrapped around the lower half and a tasseled central knot to separate the blade from the hilt. The figure has a twine hook attached to the back for wall hanging. 

Largest Size: 4 x 34 1/4 in. 

Papua New Guinea is world-famous for its tribal art, particularly from along the Sepik River, one of the most profuse and diverse art-producing regions of the world. The numerous different tribes living along the river produce magnificent wood carvings, clay pottery, and other arts and crafts. Different areas along the Sepik produce so many distinct art styles that it can take an experienced museum curator to be visually able to distinguish individual styles. The Sepik area is most well known for its sculptural masks, shields, exaggerated humanoid figures, and other artifacts like garamut drums, formed from long, hollowed-out tree trunks carved into the shape of various totem animals. Many of the best collections of these are held in overseas museums, and are identified as being in the first wave of contemporary art primarily from the capital city of Port Moresby, and the oldest pieces, which were originally used solely for ritual and personal purposes by tribespeople before the tourist industry emerged around them, are considered particularly valuable and rare. 

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