Flywhisk of spirally twisted coconut fibre, mounted on a carved wooden handle, partially decoratively bound with fibre, with two human figures, back to back, in complete relief at the end. [JC 26/9/2001]

Collection type: Object
Description: Flywhisk of spirally twisted coconut fibre, mounted on a carved wooden handle, partially decoratively bound with fibre, with two human figures, back to back, in complete relief at the end. [JC 26/9/2001]
Geographical reference: French Polynesia (Overseas Collectivity of France)
Oceania > Polynesia > French Polynesia (Overseas Collectivity of France); Tubuai Islands
Person: Field collector Newbury Museum; PRM source Henry Balfour
Date / Period: Date made: Before 1930
Date collected: 1930
Acquisition information: Donated: 1930
Materials and processes: Material Coconut Fibre Plant, Material Wood Plant, Process Twisted, Process Carved
Dimensions: Length: max 490 mm, Width: max 140 mm
Object numbers: Accession number: 1930.6.10
Research and responses: Roger Rose has convincingly provenanced such 'janiform' flywhisks to Tubuai (formerly Austral Islands) rather than Tahiti; see 'On the Origin and Diversity of "Tahitian" Janiform Fly Whisks', by Roger Rose, in Exploring the Visual Art of Oceania: Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia (Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii, 1979), pp. 202-213. NB It does not seem that any of the Tubuai (Austral) Islands flywhisks in the PRM were examined by Rose during the research that led to this essay. [JC 21 9 2001, 22 7 2005]

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