A Superb Old Solomon Islands Staff Star Harbour Area Makira Island San Cristobal Solomon Islands

A Superb Old Solomon Islands Staff from the Star Harbour Area of Makira Island (previously known as San Cristobal Island) in the Eastern Solomon Islands 

This finely carved & shell inlay Staff was carved by a master carver during the 1940s and it was likely a gift from a local man to an American or Australian soldier stationed there during WW2.  The imagery consists of an ancestor figure who is being bitten by a crocodile, this is a consistent motif in Solomon Islands art and relates to a mythological story, the other images are totemic animals & sea creatures.

The Solomon Islands in the southwest Pacific form a double chain, roughly 850 miles long, between New Britain and Vanuatu. The archipelago is remarkable for the richness of its decorative arts, which serve to adorn the human body and embellish ceremonial and utilitarian objects. Solomon Islanders are particularly remarkable for their sophisticated traditions of shell inlay, in which delicately carved sections of mother-of-pearl or white shell are inset into the surfaces of wood objects as shown in this very fine sculpture.

The photos of the Staff do not do the artwork justice, it is often the case where the artwork held in one’s hand gives the full experience of how beautiful the staff truly is. It has a custom stand

Provenance: The Todd Barlin Collection of Solomon Island and Oceanic Art

See my new EXHIBITIONS GALLERY  showing the Museums and Art Galleries Exhibitions that I provided artworks for over the past 40 years. There is the link to the article about my artworks published in the prestigious Louvre Magazine in 1996

I have artwork for Museums and art Galleries but also for collectors at every stage of their collecting. I want to encourage people to explore the fine art of New Guinea & West Papua and the Pacific Islands and to be able to see and touch the artworks in a relaxed and friendly manner in my Sydney Gallery. I would like to invite you to visit my gallery and see the artworks in person and also look at my website www.oceanicartsaustralia.com where there are many Galleries & Sub Galleries to explore.

My Gallery of nearly 40 years is the last physical gallery in Sydney that specializes in New Guinea and Oceanic Art.  Sydney is very close to New Guinea & the Pacific Islands where all of these amazing artworks came from, Australia’s closest neighbors.

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