TRIBAL ART & ANTIQUITIES

16th September 2020

Now accepting consignments for the 16th September sale. Closing date for entries 30th June.

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1. Details of a selection of North American Indian beaded pipe bags from the Michael G. Johnson Collection. Estimates from £400 – £2,000

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OCEANIC ART A number of Oceanic artefacts consigned to the September sale include a selection of Australian Aboriginal wooden clubs, boomerangs and shields. The large fish-tail fighting club with its linear and dot painted blade is typical of a style seen through Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. This is the same area where the vast majority of bark paintings were produced. The iconic eucalyptus bark, painted with natural pigments depicting sacred creatures, dreams, landscapes and figures, was originally used for ceremonial and educational purposes and today the recognised artists are proving popular amongst collectors. The unusual painted short club is likely to have originated from Northern Queensland, but the depiction of three grimacing busts with large oval eyes is a style reminiscent of the Torres Strait, an area that lies between Cape York Peninsula and Papua New Guinea, dotted with a series of small islands. The group shows a hooked boomerang, a pineapple club, a narrow shield, a Tiwi club and a leangle club. The leangle is distinct to the western Victoria area and was considered the most lethal, as its sharply pointed head could reach around the narrow parrying shields. The wonderfully carved Fiji kinikini club was likely to have been owned by a chief who would have held it as a symbol of rank and authority, though one 19th century observation recorded that, if ever used in battle, the cutting edges of the broad flat blade would inflict the damage, “the chief using his kinikini to cleave a man down…”