Much of Indonesia has a history of highly developed court cultures that sponsored groups of craftspeople and provided a market for their products, just as in Europe. Other more remote areas have a pattern similar to New Guinea where the demand is village based, although some items were traded extensively. In New Guinea, the Chambri potters of the Sepik River trade their clay storage pots and fireplaces all along the river, and the coastal Kula Trade routes are well documented in the anthropological literature. Wood carvers and painters of bark panels are almost always men. Potters may be male or female depending on the region.
Men construct the towering cane and tapa cloth masks.
Bom packing artifacts in 20 ton container, Wewak, East Sepik Province, Papua New Guinea, 1997. Traders in artifacts, whether they are local or expatriate, go to a lot of work to get pieces out of the jungle villages and into the galleries. This does not include any expenses once it's landed. A gallery typically keystones a piece i.e. doubles the price they pay to the trader in order to cover their own overhead of rent, staff, etc. Bark Paintings has a Diary Entry on Buying in the Angoram Haus Tambaran.