Not Currently On View in Intersections

Object Name: Offering post

Artist: Unknown

Culture: Tetun peoples

Place of Origin: Dafala, Belu, West Timor, Indonesia

Date/Era: Probably 19th century or earlier

Dimensions: H: 92.7 cm, W: 30.4 cm, D: 24.1 cm (H: 34.5 in, W: 11.9 in, D: 9.5 in)

Medium/Materials: Stone

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

Accession Number: X86.3137

The two faces of this stone post represent the original ancestral couple. Such posts were erected far from villages in order to prevent accidental offense to the spirits of the ancestors that dwell in the post. At regular intervals, the post was dressed in fine clothing, and food offerings were brought to the ancestors.

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