The compelling beauty of great Papuan Gulf Gope Boards is really a secondary effect of their prime purpose: to achieve for their clan the strongest possibe protective power from the ancestor spirit representated (as a stylised head) in the carving. It's thus tempting in this example to view the central 'mask' as an appropriation of the image of that great mythical Western protective warrior - the masked Phantom of 1950's comic book fame.
If this were the case, could the mechanism of borrowing have been via the post-1950's 'Phantom Shields' from the New Guinea Highlands, which depicted the all-conqueroring Phantom on war shields in a variey of often full-figure agressive poses growing out of the comic-book graphics .. ?

Be the above conjecture as it may (or may not ..), the black 'widow's peak' element seen here also appears in ancestor boards from across the region, including Kerewa, Elema, and Wapo/Era boards. The particular shaping here, together with the agressive voiding of the eyes and mouth, and the profiling of a well-fleshed face, impart a much more figurative aspect, and one that is possibly unique ..(These stylistic modifications also seem to draw it close to the look of the Sepik River over-modelled skulls .... or have I been looking at it too long ...??)

My suggestion as to an Urama origin is largely based on information from the very informative Art-Pacific website (http://www.art-pacific.com/), where there is a small photograph of an ancestor board with apparently strong stylistic similarities, which I understand Carolyn Leigh to say was collected by her husband Ron Perry on Urama Island in the 1970's.

There a three slots carved in each side of the board for decorative attachment. (And also a few random (of course..) holes dug by insects: not borers - these are larger, fewer in number, and more aesthetically tolerable .. It is interesting to notice that there is a circular carved indent behind the nose on the back, perhaps making the piece (slightly) more usable as a mask.

The astonishing vigour of this Gope may be seen as deriving from it's reductive simplicity and its subtle manipulation (with whatever intent) of a highly traditional and typically clan-specific representational idiom. The Phantom rules..!!

Tremendous visual power from simple (perhaps anthropomorphic?) overlaid forms which in turn echo the overall shape of this male skirt. When worn the item was folded back over the wearer's belt or waistband along the line of the still visible crease (towards the top of the panel).
The brilliant scarlet of the vertical figures is apparently in local ochre, while the white background is trade paint. The panel remains reasonably structurally flexible.
A truly inspired piece of Highlands Sing-Sing regalia, but equally exciting as a static display object with a sophistication which belies its simple materials

An archaic and fascinating sculpture-the seat section and legs forming the body of the face depicted on the vertical section.
Further research is in progress in relation to this piece and its provenance, including the old collection number 'A122' stapled to the base ..
Quick inspection reveals great age, much use, and quintessential Sepik artistic expression ..

1April, 2010. I have just come across a related stool in terms of construction, at least, in Anthony JP Meyer's Oceanic Art, Vol.1, (p.278). The example cited there was collected further down the Sepik by Peter Hallinan, from the Wosera people, and it's back carries a relief (rather than incised) carving of the ancestor figure; nevertheless I would imagine that the the general principles of his description would apply to the present example.
The author states that seats of the type he illustrates belong exclusively to Big Men, with power, wealth, and direct links back to important ancestors. They would be elders in the village council, and 'the voice of reason' ... (Could there be a tentative link here with the general concept of the Orator's chair ..?)

Vibrant modern art from Oceania - though actually with considerable age, as evidenced by the use of Ricketts Blue to colour one of the bands on the larger paddle. The rest of the vivid (oil-based) trade paints used have mellowed and matted with age to produce a wonderful saturated harmony.
Considerable care has gone into the shaping and fashioning of the paddles, with carved relief and bevelling evident on the blades, which are quite fine in section.
Regarding the origin of the paddles I am uncertain but do remember seeing a somewhat similar example attributed to New Britain (or New Ireland?). (Likewise I recall seeing very similar exuberant trade painting on shields from New Britain - and also, for that matter, on Malangan from New Ireland ..).
Rare and beautiful items, with a Rickett's pedigree!

A large and ancient example from a sea-going outrigger canoe. Trobriand Islands canoes were central to the Kula trading system, and their splashboards embodied the principal ritual art of the canoe. They were nevertheless functional in origin, standing above and to the rear of the actual prow of the canoe, and locating the raised gunwales which extended back to the stern. (The channels which held these side-boards are visible in the image of the rear of the board).
Impressively carved and incised splashboards such as this example elevated the status of the crew, and were often re-painted between voyages (not necessarily meticulously, it appears .. ). This board apparently out-lasted the canoe which it formed part of: in places the deep channels have the very degraded wood of the remains of gunwales still pinched in position. This could be easily and cleanly extracted with the fingers, but I have left it there for the ethnographic record ..
The slightly assymetric bi-lobed form and swirling incisions are beautifully redolent of the oceanic realm; this is one of the rare examples to further gild the lily with a superb openwork figure between the upper lobes.