A lime pin with a carved head and engraved decoration. Three overlapping notched circles, carved two-thirds of the way up this ancient pin, were used to block and seal the opening of the gourd containing the lime needed to chew betel nuts. Above these three notches are superb incised and engraved motifs of circles interspersed among lines of tension, motifs of rare beauty that could almost evoke Art Deco for us. At the top, above this neck, or abstract body forming the handle, is sculpted an oblong head, with a busted nose and meticulously carved ears, serene and smiling, also of rare beauty. It's the same serene smile that adorned the face of the large Lake Sentani statue brought back by Jacques Viot in 1929, and which Jean Roudillon and his associate Olivier Le Corneur loaned to the Museum of Primitive Art in New York in 1959. J. E. Carlier reminds us, concerning the legend of another superb anthropomorphic pin from this region, that "only the chiefs of the main clans and their families were allowed to possess lime spatulas in the shape of a human figure, to be used for ceremonial purposes only". The previously unpublished lime spatula in the Jean Roudillon collection is undoubtedly a masterpiece of the arts of this region. Lake Sentani or Humboldt Bay region, Irian Jaya, Western New Guinea Wood, minimal lime residue, superb patina. H. 30 cm For the statue on loan from Galerie Le Corneur Roudillon, see catalog no. 38 of : The Art of Lac Sentani, Museum of Primitiv Art, New York 1959 See for another anthropomorphic lime pin commented by J.E. Carlier in: Du Lac Sentani au Village d'Aitape, Voyageurs et Curieux, Paris 2022 Provenance: - Probably collected by Jacques Viot - Jean Roudillon Collection