1910.62.71

Collection type

Object

Description

Ebony staff, a seated human figure carved at one end [ZM 13/07/2015]

Geographical reference

Papua New Guinea

Oceania > Melanesia > Papua New Guinea

Milne Bay Province Alotau District Fyfe Bay

Person

Field collector London Missionary Society

PRM source London Missionary Society

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1910

Date collected

By 1910

Acquisition information

Purchased: 1910

Materials and processes

Material Ebony Wood Plant, Process Carved

Dimensions

Length 890 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1910.62.71 Other numbers: 1910.ß.152 - 153

Research and responses

Please note that Fife Bay is in Papua New Guinea - see information written on 1910.62.70 [MdeA 13/7/2000]

See page 122 of Eric Kjellgren, Oceania: art of the Pacific Islands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007) for the following description of ritual staffs from the Trobriand Islands: 'Ritual staffs were produced in the Trobriand Islands but they appear to have been primarily employed in the southern Massim region, where they were used in some areas for healing rites and in others for malevolent magic. The tops of the staffs were typically adorned with one or two seated figures. These human images, like those on the lime spatulas, may have served as temporary residing places for spirits - in this case, for spirits who assisted the religious specialist in the rites.' This particular object (1910.62.71) has been identified as a walking stick by Mike O'Hanlon, rather than a staff, but in appearance is very similar to the staffs in the collection from the Massim region of the Trobriand Islands. [ZM 13/07/2015]

Search terms: Transport and Travel, Figure, Status, Staff, Status Object, Walking Stick