Not Currently On View in Intersections

Object Name: Ancestor figure for house altar

Artist: Unknown

Place of Origin: Baw?mataluo, Nias, Indonesia

Date/Era: Probably 1870s

Medium/Materials: Wood, cloth

Dimensions: H: 39.5 cm, W: 10.0 cm, D: 11.0 cm (H: 15.5 in, W: 3.9 in, D: 4.3 in)

Credit Line: Fowler Museum at UCLA. The Jerome L. Joss Collection.

Accession Number: X85.1072

This figure was once displayed on the ancestral altar of the Bawömataluo village chief’s house, which was constructed in the 1870s. It represents Laowo, the founding ancestor of Bawömataluo and father of Saonigeho, who was the chief at the time the house was constructed.

Source: Gallery text, Intersections: World Arts, Local Lives, 2006.

See also: Marla C. Berns, World Arts, Local Lives: The Collections of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, 2014.