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| A very finely decorated palau bubu type war club with an unusual forked tip. The shell money (diwarra) bound around the shaft with the twin shell loops, as well as the cut and ornamented feather-bunch shows that this weapon has been transformed into an important ceremonial staff which was used during war related ceremonies and bridal rituals. These staffs also called ram were notably used in the kulau dance and for dukduk ceremonies. The inner edge of the forked tip and the pointed butt of the staff are decorated with a line of incised dots.
Tolai People, Gazelle Peninsula, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago, PNG, Melanesia. Black palm wood, rattan, tapa, shell (nassa sp.), and feathers. 139,5 x 28 x 4 cm. 19th century. An old paper label (probably a German tax or customs stamp) with un-decipherable numbers in pencil is affixed to the top of the club. Provenance : Field collected by either Father Mathäus Rasher (murdered together with a number of missionaries and MSC sisters by the Baining People in Toma Village on August 13, 1904), or by Richard Parkinson (1844/1909). Father Rasher and Parkinson traveled often together with Parkinson collecting art-works and Rasher making converts. A large group of artifacts were shipped back to the main Mission in Hiltrup-Munster (Germany). Many of these items were later sold to Loed van Bussel in the 1960’s. Four of these staffs were in the Hiltrup collection purchased by Van Bussel - three of which are now in private collections. Ex collection : the Mission of the Sacred Heart (MSC – Mission du Sacré Coeur) Hiltrup, Munster, Germany. Ex coll. : Loed & Mia van Bussel, Amsterdam. See plate 8, in Parkinson (1907) for a palau bubu type club and two decorated staffs. Ref. : |
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