War club ·  Papua New Guinea - Trobriand Islands, Massim · ID: 3035145

Description

wood, black patina, white pigment, habile handle, flat corpus, elaborately decorated with accurate incised ornaments, accentuated with white pigment, slightly dam., missing part at the tip of the club, fine cracks;
at the far eastern point of New Guinea lies Milne Bay and the islands of the Massim Area, often incorrectly referred to as the “Trobriands”. The Massims designs are often based on stylized birds heads, which are carved in an interlocking manner to form a type of “Greek” scrolling.

Comparing literature

Meyer, Anthony J.P., Ozeanische Kunst, Vol. I, Köln 1995, ill. 145