Couple de statues, Atauro, Lesser Sunda Islands, Timor oriental

Acquis dans les années 1980 auprès d'un collectionneur natif de Timor
Collection privée

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Sur la petite île d'Atauro, au paysage façonné par ses volcans éteints, on trouve une statuaire d'une remarquable individualité, dont les expressions les plus rares et emblématiques sont les couples de statues émergeant d'un poteau, comme ici. 

Une photographie de terrain, prise sur le mont Manu-Koko par Marc Felix au milieu des années 1970 illustre dans son contexte d'origine l'un des rares et très ancien autres couples connus (Sotheby's, New York, 10 mai 1988, n° 16). Fichés face à face aux extrémités d'un amoncellement de pierres, les sculptures évoquent la proue et la poupe d'un navire. Selon Marc Felix (communication personnelle in Sotheby's, idem), la forme spécifique de ces autels renvoie aux ancêtres fondateurs qui migrèrent, par bateau, à Atauro. Pour Schefold et Alpert (2013, p. 267), ces statues représenteraient vraisemblablement le couple de déités Baku-Mau et Lebu-Hmoru, garants, au sens large, de la fertilité. 

Conformément aux descriptions faites par le père Jorge Duarte à partir d'autres statues comparables observées à Atauro, hormis la représentation des seins, la statue féminine se distingue par la largeur du peigne sculpté sur l'occiput. Toutes deux portent de longs rangs de perles anciennes extrêmement prisées, en tant que monnaie rituelle associée aux notions de richesse et de statut social (Duarte, 1984, in Schefold et Alpert, idem). Sur le torse du personnage masculin, la pose de l'enfant, sculpté de face, renverrait à l'expression de la masculinité (idem). 

Voir Schefold et Alpert (2013, p. 267 n° 91) pour une statue masculine apparentée, acquise en 1983 par le musée de Dallas. 

Pair of Atauro figures, Lesser Sunda Islands, East Timor

On the little island of Atauro, in a landscape shaped around extinct volcanoes, there exists a statuary of remarkable individuality, the rarest and most emblematic expressions of which are the pairs of statues that emerge from a stake, as these do. 

A field photograph taken on mount Manu-Koko by Marc Felix in the mid-1970s (Maxwell, 1990, p. 247) shows, in its original context, one of the most ancient and rare known specimens of these pairs (Sotheby's, New York, 10 May 1988, No. 16). Planted face to face in a heap of rocks, the sculptures evoke the fore and aft of a boat.  According to Marc Felix (personal communications in Sotheby's, ibid) the unique shape of these altars is a reference to the founding ancestors who migrated by boat to Atauro. Schefold and Alpert (2013, p. 267), posit that these statues likely represent Baku-Mau and Lebu-Hmoru, the divine couple who ensures fecundity in all its forms.

In accordance with descriptions by Father Jorge Duarte based on other similar statues observed on Atauro, aside from the representation of breasts, the female figure differs mostly in the width of the comb sculpted on its occiput. Both figures wear long rows of ancient beads, which were extremely sought after as ritual currency associated with notions of wealth and social status (Duarte, 1984, in Schefold and Alpert, ibid). On the male figure's torso, the child's pose, carved facing forwards, is thought to be an expression of masculinity (ibid). 

See Schefold and Alpert (2013, p. 267 No. 91) for a related male statue, acquired in 1983 by the Dallas Museum.