Four Superb Old Marupai Charms Orokolo Bay Papuan Gulf Area Papua New Guinea

Four Superb Old Marupai Charms from the Elema People Orokolo Bay in the Papuan Gulf Area of Papua New Guinea

Marupai is a type of magical charm that most men owned & used in the Papuan Gulf cultures. Carved from dwarf coconuts and finely incised over their entire surface with Ancestral Spirits just like the better-known Gope Spirit Boards from the same area. They are almost certainly from the 19th Century as they were collected in 1948.

Marupai were often kept inside little woven bags that sometimes were tied together in groups, men wore them or carried them in their bags to protect themselves & their families from malevolent sorcerers or bad magic.  They were also used as Hunting Charms, to control the weather & for love magic.

I personally had experienced the use of magical charms on me by older men in New Guinea to help with pain, and they worked

Marupai are masterpieces of small-scale sculpture, these deserve to stay together and are being sold together.

Provenance: The Todd Barlin Collection of Oceanic Art

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