Ritual dance club "napa" · Solomon Islands - Santa Cruz Islands, Ndende · ID: 3051698
sold
EUR 1,000
Provenance
Christie’s South Kensington, 30 June 1987, lot 210German Private Collection, Munich
Size
L: 104,5 cm
L: 41.1 inch
Description
wood, earth pigments, grass fibres, nuts,
With a typical canoe-shaped corpus, traditional painting and abstract faces.
These clubs are traditionally attributed to Ndende island but are in fact found across the Santa Cruz island group in eastern Solomon Islands.
According to Davenport (1968), the inhabitants of Utupua Island see themselves as the original owners and rightful bearers of these clubs, which were once given to one of their ancestors by “Bamuda”, a supernatural culture hero.
Comparing literature
Conru, Kevin, Solomon Islands Art, Milan 2008, p.127, ill. 74