A Superb Old Bougainville Island Dance Club 19th Century New Guinea
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| Collection No. | T-5720 |
|---|---|
| Size | Height 164cm |
A Superb Old Bougainville Island Dance Club, New Guinea, 19th Century ( Photos show the beautiful Carving on both sides )
This superb old Dance Club is from the Bougainville or Buka Islands and dates from the late 19th Century.
Over the 40 years, I have been collecting Oceanic Art. This is the finest Dance Club from Bougainville I have seen outside of Museum Collections.
These fine old Ceremonial Paddles called kokorra were made only on the two Islands of Buka and Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. The Paddles are important ceremonial objects associated with the life cycle ceremonies and rituals of the highest-ranking chiefs. Its iconography refers to a recurring cycle of birth, life, marriage, death, and the passage to the afterlife.
The anthropomorphic designs on this paddle are known as kokorra, which is also a name given to the decorated Ceremonial Paddles themselves.
The designs on the Paddles are finely carved & ochre-painted in the colours of red, black and white. The Paddles were made by Master Carvers & ritual experts who knew the genealogy of the clans & their sacred designs.
Bougainville is a matrilineal society in which land is owned by women and chiefly titles pass through the female line. The highest rank of chief is the Patu, a position that is considered equivalent to sacred beings. Nakaripa and Naboen Clans each have a Tohe Kau Mal (female paramount chief) and her brother, the Tsunono Mal (male paramount high chief). The second in line to the chiefs fulfils the role of voice, or knowledge holder, and acts as the bridge between the chiefs, clan members and the general public.
The kokorra figure represents a foetus (koreritu) a symbol of creation and journeys in life. The figures on these paddles wear upe (ceremonial hats or headdress) which on Bougainville are worn by young male initiates (see photo below). On Buka, the upe is worn by the male chief during the mourning ceremony and ritual for a Paramount Chief who had passed on.
The overall design composition on this paddle therefore refers to the creation of life, and the passage to Kolu, the land of the ancestors. According to local belief, when a chief is ready to die two eagles will fly above the village, giving that chief permission to pass through the sky as he/she travels to Kolu.
Such paddles would be used in several different ceremonies, during a wedding ceremony, the paddles would be held by the bride as she is carried to meet the family of her future husband. If the marriage is accepted, the bride passes the paddle to her aunt on her mother’s side, who keeps it until the bride falls pregnant, at which time the paddle would be placed at the at the front of the woman’s house to announce the pregnancy. It is then kept in a tsuhana (clan meeting house). When the chief dies the paddle will be placed on her grave to gradually decay, completing the life cycle of the carving.
Provenance: The Todd Barlin Collection of New Guinea Oceanic Art
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