Oceanic Art - Huon Gulf mortar, Papua New Guinea

This wonderful mortar is from the Huon Gulf area of Papua New Guinea. It was probably used for crushing gallop nuts, as opposed to the larger, more common mortars used for mashing taro, bananas and yams. It measures 16" high by only 5" in diameter at the upper rim. It has a lug carved near the base where it would have been suspended by a piece of rope. The base has a couple of stable cracks and a small chunk is missing as seen in the photo below. Ex Robin Leahy. #1583 SOLD