A Superb Old Pair of Dance Clubs Bougainville Island Papua New Guinea 19th C

A Superb Old Pair of Dance Clubs Bougainville Island Papua New Guinea 19th Century

This pair of superb Dance Clubs are from Bougainville or Buka Islands and dating from the late 19th Century. Each club is finely carved from a single piece of hardwood, the finials are in the form of a stylized ancestor figure with large eyes, one of the figures has incised triangular designs on the top it’s head.  Both clubs the figures are double-sided with a mirror image on both sides.  The bottom of both clubs tapers to a triangular point.

Over the 40 years, I have been collecting Oceanic Art this is the finest pair of Bougainville dance clubs I have seen outside of Museum Collections.

Though Bougainville and Buka Islands are now a semi-autonomous area of Papua New Guinea, culturally they are more related to the people of the Western Solomon Islands which is just a short boat ride away. In previous times people moved back & forth freely between the Western Solomon’s & Bougainville and Buka Islands.

Provenance: The Todd Barlin Collection of Oceanic Art and Artefacts and Ornaments

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