Daga Asmat, Irian Jaya, Indonesia, 20th century.

Asmat dagger, Irian Jaya, Indonesia, 20th century.
Cassowary bone, cassowary fibers, feathers and seeds.
Measurements: 40,6 cm (height).
Asmat ceremonial dagger decorated at the top with a fiber braid from which escape cassowary feathers decorated with various seeds. The Metropolitan Museum of New York has in its collection a very similar dagger (Inv. No. 1978.412.1328).
The Asmat are a New Guinean ethnic group residing in the province of South Papua, Indonesia. The Asmat inhabit a region on the southwest coast of the island bordering the Arafura Sea. Asmat art consists of elaborate stylized wood carvings, such as the bisj pole, and is designed to honor ancestors. Museums around the world have collected many Asmat artifacts, among the most notable are those in the Michael C. Rockefeller Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam.