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

Three Superb Old New Guinea Marupai Charm 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 all collected in 1948.  Marupai are masterpieces of small-scale sculpture.

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.

Provenance: The Todd Barlin Collection of New Guinea Oceanic Art

See my new EXHIBITIONS GALLERY  showing the Museums and Art Galleries Exhibitions that I provided artworks for over the past 40 years. There is the link to the article about my artworks published in the prestigious Louvre Magazine in 1996

I have artwork for Museums and art Galleries but also for collectors at every stage of their collecting. I want to encourage people to explore the fine art of New Guinea & West Papua and the Pacific Islands and to be able to see and touch the artworks in a relaxed and friendly manner in my Sydney Gallery. I would like to invite you to visit my gallery and see the artworks in person and also look at my website www.oceanicartsaustralia.com where there are many Galleries & Sub Galleries to explore.

My Gallery of nearly 40 years is the last physical gallery in Sydney that specializes in New Guinea and Oceanic Art.  Sydney is very close to New Guinea & the Pacific Islands where all of these amazing artworks came from, Australia’s closest neighbors.

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