A Rare Detachable Carved Head

• Lot Sold $5,500 (Hammer Price)
• $6,600 (Hammer Price with Buyer's Premium)

TORRES STRAIT ISLANDS
carved wood, white clay, pink and green synthetic paint, pearl shell and tortoise shell, wooden pegs  
LENGTH: 23CM  

Provenance:  
The Berry Collection, Melbourne  
Young's Auctions, Melbourne, 29 March 2009, lot 261  
Private collection

Cf. David R. Moore, The Torres Strait Collections - Haddon, Shire Publications Ltd.,  1989 pl.56 pp.471-475; see also, Jude Philip, Past Time: Torres Strait Islander Materials from the Haddon Collection, Canberra: National Museum of Australia Press, 2001, p.44; for illustrations of a coconut fibre figure with a similar inserted wooden head, acquired by the Museum of Victoria in 1891, see Tom Mosby, Torres Strait Ira Pe Ike (Here is the Story of the Torres Strait) Tom Mosby, Ilan Pasin - this is our way Torres Strait Art, Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns 1999.
 
This rare artefact, carved in soft wood, is likely to date from the early 20th century, and has in addition to the white pigment on the face, remnants of pink and green paint, which appear to have been added over numerous applications.
 
The head's long undecorated shaft suggest that this caving that was possibly inserted into a fibre figure. The face has fine perforations along the chin line, which suggest that a ‘beard' has been prviously attached, indicating that the figure represents a male ancestor. A complete example of one these figure is in the collection of the Museum of Victoria, Melbourne.