Big sacred board "tjuringa" ·  Australia · ID: 3039378

Description

wood, reddish brown patina, dark pigment, oiled, slightly vaulted on top and engraved with diamond-shaped pattern, bulging on reverse side and decorated with concentric circle- and u-shaped motifs, slightly dam., minor missing parts, fissures;
concentric circles usually represent the principal feature of the myth portrayed, such as the spiritual ancestor, places where he camped, went into or came out of the ground, dristributed spirit children, waged battle with an enemy or rival, and so on. The curved “U-within-U” figures represent men sitting down, the number of “U’s” denoting the number of men.

The object Big sacred board “tjuringa” with the object ID 3039378 was last part of the auction 81st Tribal Art Auction at October 31, 2015 on Zemanek-Münster Auction house. The object with the lot number 125 achieved a sales price of EUR 2,600.

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Comparing literature

Mc Carthy, Frederick, Australian Aborginal Decorative Art, Sydney 1966, p. 29