Rare massue de guerre ou boti. Région de Freshwater Bay, Golfe de Papouasie. Bois de Palmier Noir (taillé a l’outil néolithique). 19e siècle ou antérieur. 156 x 7 x 2,5 cm. Ex coll: Savage ; then Pitt Rivers vers 1894, étiquette d’origine “NATIVE SPADE, NEW GUINEA, SAVAGE COLL, PI 1071“. Provient d’une collection privée française d’armes et de militaria en région Parisienne.

Réf.:
Edge-Partington, J., 1895. An album of the weapons, tools, ornaments, articles of dress etc. of the natives of the Pacific Islands. Second Series. (Issued for private circulation by J. Edge-Partington and C. Heape).

Meyer, Anthony JP: OCEANIC ART / OZEANISCHE KUNST / ART OCEANIEN. Könemann Verlag, Köln. 1995.

NEW GUINEA ART – Masterpieces From The JOLIKA Collection of Marcia & John Friede. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco & 5 Continent Editions, San Francisco & Milano, 2005.

E.B. Savage was an English missionary who retired to Ringwood, not far from the Pitt Rivers home at Rushmore. Pitt Rivers bought 224 pieces from Rev. Savage on 20 October 1894 for the sum of £45.