Lot 57
Grade Figural Sculpture, Vanuatu Banks/ Malekula Islands
Sold June 28, 2025
- Price realized
- $150
Price realized is the winning bid (hammer price) and excludes buyer’s premium.
About this lot
Estimated Value: $500-4,000
Origin: Vanuatu, Banks or Malekula Islands, 20th Century
Dimensions: 14x13x51in
Condition: No visible damage some fibers falling off around the edges
Additional Information: A Vanuatu figure made by the Suque people is commissioned to be made to be used as a public monument ritualized offerings at a ceremony that includes drumming, performances, and sacrificing pigs so one can get graded in a Kastom political and social system, taking a new grade and move up in the hierarchy scale in the community advancing their status.
The hierarchical system, the “suque” honors the traditional chiefs of the clans and villages. Fern grade figures would be commissioned and installed around their huts. In Vanuatu society, wealth and status is based on the number of “tuskers” or pigs raised, and the size of the plot in which taro and other foods are grown.
The figures are carved out of the fibrous trunk of a fern tree creating homes for the spirits associated with a specific grade. This grade figure is made with a traditional diamond face and dogs teeth details with that angles into the trunk with other added elements such as large eyes.
Lot details
- Lot
- 57
- Closed
- June 28, 2025
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