Side-blown horn

War Trumpet, Kul, Iatmul people, Middle Sepik River, Papua New Guinea Few side-blown Iatmul trumpets (kul) exist today, but this example illustrates how impressively they were conceived and realised by their carvers. These were historically the most sculpturally sophisticated trumpets in New Guinea, and we can see how two-dimensional and three-dimensional human representations are combined together effectively in the characteristic Iatmul style. Trumpets like this were often carved in pairs, and they were carried in the canoes when an Iatmul war-party went off to battle. If their attack was successful, the men would sound the trumpets as they rowed home to let the women know that they had been victorious. Preparations would then begin for a feast to celebrate the victory, at which the trumpets would be sounded again. Because of this, the sound of trumpets came to be associated with any major successful undertaking by the Iatmul, and so it was not unusual for them to be blown, for example, when important building projects were finished. Hardwood. Early 20th Century. Provenance unknown.