Kerewa Spirit Board, Kikori River, Goaribari Island Area, Papua New Guineagope height 71 3/4in (157cm)ProvenanceCollected by Roy J. Hedlund in 1961Morton D. May Collection, St. Louis, Missouri (accession no. 116: 1975 on reverse side)St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri, gift of Morton D. MayChristie's, New York, 20 December 2006Acquired from the above by the present owner PublishedParsons, Lee Allen, Ritual arts of the South Seas - The Morton D. May Collection, St. Louis Art Museum of Art, 1975, pl. 37;Welsch, Robert L., et.al., Coaxing the Spirits to Dance - Art And Society in the Papuan Gulf of New Guinea, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, 2006, fig. 135 for a photograph taken by Roy Hedlund in 1961 showing works he collected in situ, including this gope.ExhibitedSt. Louis, Missouri, Ritual Arts of the South Seas - The Morton D. May Collection, 22 August - 19 October, 1975Carved flat with four openings, two fiber tassels--one mostly missing--attached to the sides, and a suspension hole at the top; incised design with white, black and orange pigment on the front depicting a face in the center; old encrustations on the surface.