Ngaju Dayak. Central Kalimantan, Borneo Island, Indonesia.
Wood, pigments, metal. L: 21" (53.3 cm), W: 2.5" (6.4 cm), H: 3.75" (9.5 cm).

Hornbill effigy in the form of a soul boat. This effigy would have hung from the rafters of a traditional house or from a hook in an ancestral shrine.
The spirit of the sacred hornbill is a representative of the upper world and an important omen bird. In the form of a soul boat it would have been used
to protect the deceased on their way to the afterlife. As a symbol of an omen bird, it would be consulted before an important ritual.

Its most attractive feature is the exaggerated hornbill cask, curving back on itself.

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