This beautiful piece is an older Asmat canoe prow decoration. It has a wonderful openwork design depicting numerous figure and animal motifs. A similar example is published in the small book “Asmat: Art from Southwest New Guinea” put out by the Tropen Museum in 1961. The prow shows good age, comes from a German collection, dates to the mid 20th century and is 43 1/8” (109.5 cm) in length. Asmat Art New Guinea Art Oceanic Tribal Art Canoe Art