Dance Staff Finial

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Dance Staff Finial

Papua New Guinea, New Britain, Gazelle Peninsula, Tolai People, circa 1900
Architecture; Architectural Elements
Wood, wool yarn, and pigment
18 1/2 x 7 x 7 in. (46.99 x 17.78 x 17.78 cm)
Purchased with funds provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation with additional funding by Jane and Terry Semel, the David Bohnett Foundation, Camilla Chandler Frost, Gayle and Edward P. Roski, and The Ahmanson Foundation (M.2008.66.29)
Art of the Pacific
Not currently on public view

Provenance

Collected by Heinrich Fellmann (1871–1946), Raluana, New Britain, gift to; Linden Museum, Stuttgart (I.C. 57435). John Alan Friede (b. 1938), New York, NY....
Collected by Heinrich Fellmann (1871–1946), Raluana, New Britain, gift to; Linden Museum, Stuttgart (I.C. 57435). John Alan Friede (b. 1938), New York, NY. Masco Corporation Collection, Livonia, MI, sold 2008 through; [Sotheby’s, New York, to]; LACMA.
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Label

Gallery Label

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Gallery Label
This cylindrical human figure was made for placement on a dance staff. The dances were associated with initiation ceremonies in Tolai culture, and these figures often represented ancestor spirits. This figure has upraised arms, inset eyes, a grimaced mouth, and elongated body. The Tolai iniet society is based on secret initiation rituals and public dances, both events at which a staff like this was used.

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Bibliography

  • Wardwell, Allen. Island Ancestors: Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection. [Seattle]: University of Washington Press, 1994.