Timor Island

19th century Portuguese East Timor, Timor Island,
[An island of Indonesia, easternmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands,
between the Savu and Timor Seas; northwest of Australia.]

Virgin of Oceania

Wood
14 ¼ inches high (36.5 cm); on its fixed base 15 ¼ inches high
Good condition
Provenance: Private Collection, East Timor

Note:

The Portuguese began trading with Timor about 1520 and retained a colony on the eastern half of the island until 1976 when it was formally annexed by Indonesia. Christianity made inroads from the first colonization but most inhabitants retained their tribal religion of worshipping ancestors and other spirits. Sculptures of the Virgin Mary are extremely rare in Oceanic cultures of the Pacific, particularly pre-20th century. This example is exceptional for its purity of pre-Colonial stylization and its masterful modeling which suggests the work of Brancusi. It is, in our estimation, a masterpiece of ethnographic art and a singular example of European-Oceanic cultural synthesis.

Fred R. Kline