This is a large and elaborate version of the ritual figures that in early days became known as “Mendi dolls”, or “payback dolls” The term payback doll related to the early information that these figures represented somebody who was killed during tribal warfare, and this image reinforced revenge. In the Mendi Valley also, figures were carved or painted on their shields that projected this same sense of “revenge”. However, they had a more important function in pre-contact times where they were used in initiation rituals. They are made on a framework of wood or strong cane, then bound with other more pliant vegetable matter. A human form is made, then decorated as for ceremony, with painted face, shell jewellery and a headdress. This is a particularly large example of these Mendi figures and finely finished. It was collected in late 1960s or early 1970s by Sydney artist Frank Hodgkinson. It remained in his collection for over 60 years.