Sculptures
like the one present are not only decorative items but are believed to be
vessels that house the spirits of ancestors and are used to communicate with
them.

After the
death of a person a wooden image or Adu Zatua was made to mediate between the
human world and the spiritual realm. These kinds of figures were commissioned
by noble Nias families, whereas simple and lesser quality carvings generally
were found among lower class families.

In this
particularly fine example, the sculptor has paid careful attention to the
proportions of the different parts of the body, dividing it into three main
sections – the head, the torso, and the legs. The shapes are sometimes flat,
round, or have notches, but all are perfectly in balance creating a certain
divine tranquillity. This Adua Zatua’s ears are decorated with earrings, and it
is wearing a headdress, pointing towards a chiefly provenance.

In 1914 the
Dutch gained complete control of the island of Nias and started spreading
Protestant Christianity. Many ancestor statues were destroyed during the ‘Great
Penitence’ religious movement in 1916. As symbols of the old religion of
ancestor worship they were seen as blasphemous idols. The Dutch painter Rudolf
Bonnet (1895-1976) joined his friend Jaap Kunst in March 1930 for a visit to
Nias, where Kunst studied the indigenous music. Impressed by the island which
remained unspoiled, Bonnet stayd there for almost a year, living with a Nias
servant and making many drawings of the people of South Nias. What shocked him,
however, was how the Christian mission, in his opinion, was destroying the
culture and many of the traditional practices and the heritage of Nias. For a
mesmerizing portrait of a Nias warrior by Bonnet, made during his stay on Nias,
see: Uit Verre Streken, November 2022, no. 37 (ill.).