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    Melikian Collection > Collections > Artworks > Collector's Favorites > A Rare Dayak Soul Ship, tiweh


DIMENSIONS: Length: 60 inches (152.4 cm)
COMPONENTS: An assemblage of wooden human figures, birds, animal, and a snake along the roof. The ship with a mythological dragon head (aso) as the figurehead at the prow, with turquoise blue glass inset at eyes, and tail at the stern.
CONDITION: In good condition, some figures broken, composed of many loose parts that move around, placement uncertain.
NOTES: Provenance:
Property from the Collection of Dr. Richard and Jan Baum, Los Angeles, CA
Lucian van de Velde, Antwerp, Belgium
ITEM ID: 5567

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A Rare Dayak Soul Ship, tiweh

DATE
Notes: circa late 19th to early 20th century

A Rare Dayak Soul Ship, tiweh.

Many of the Southeast Asian and Indonesian cultures that practice ancestor worship create soul or spirit ship effigies that were believed to help convey the souls of the deceased to the world of the dead.