Asmat Armlet or Anklet

Asmat people, early to mid-20th century, Manokwari, West Papua, Indonesia

Charming old arm or ankle ornament made of an unidentified material—likely galalith or bone—shaped into a smooth circular form. Pieces of this type were often European-made and traded into Asmat regions in the early 20th century, possibly through Dutch missionaries. Such ornaments became incorporated into local dress and personal adornment.

The Asmat are a coastal people living in the swampy lowlands of West Papua, organised into several closely related sub-groups sharing linguistic and cultural traditions. Their material culture draws heavily on the natural environment—mud, water, and abundant forest resources—with daily subsistence based on sago, fish, and forest game. Villages typically include communal men’s houses (jeu), central to ritual and social life.

Internationally, the Asmat are renowned for their masterful woodcarving, while also remembered for once-practised traditions of warfare and headhunting—customs that persisted in some areas into the mid-20th century. These practices became widely known following the 1961 disappearance of Michael Rockefeller, whose collecting expedition in the region brought global attention to Asmat art and culture.

Excellent condition. Wear commensurate with age and use. Size approx. 8,2cm x 8,0cm x 1,9cm.

Provenance: From a Dutch private collection; reportedly originally from the holdings of a now-closed ethnographic museum and foundation in the Netherlands.

For a similar example see:

Bracelet, Pace, Stichting Papua Erfgoed, Accession Number: EA/60/20 (https://www.papuaerfgoed.org/en/EA/60/20)

References and further reading:

The Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress, Tobias Schneebaum, Cultural Survival Quarterly Magazine, December 1982.

Oceania, Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Peter and Kathleen Van Arsdale, ed. by Terence Hays, G.K. Hall & Company, 1991.

Asmat Art: Seventy years of Asmat woodcarving, Simon Kooijman, Pacific Arts Newsletter No.4, January 1977, pp. 9-11.

Art and Culture of the Asmat, Holmes Museum of Anthropology, Wichita States University, 2021.

Headhunting Practises of the Asmat of Netherlands New Guinea, Gerard A. Zegwaard, American Anthropologist New Series, Vol.61, No.6, December 1959, pp. 1020-1041.

"The Asmat", In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Emily Caglayan, Ph.D., Department of Art History, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-, October 2004.

Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art, Carl Hoffman, Publisher William Morrow, 2014.