New Guinea Artifact - Tribal Phallocrypt, #4291 $110.00

Elaborately decorated phallocrypts, such as this one, are still made by the Iatmul people of the middle Sepik River villages of Mumeri and Kamanabit. These gourds, once the main clothing of New Guinea men, are now normally worn during ceremonial events.

This phallocrypt is made from the end of a dried gourd and decorated with paint, bush twine, seeds and shells. A face, perhaps of an ancestor, is woven on the gourd.

This gourd measures 15.5 inches long with an opening diameter of 4 inches.


#4291 Phallocrypt from the middle Sepik River villages of Mumeri and Kamanabit. Papua New Guinea