SOLOMON Island Bougainville Buka rare family group of portrait figures c1920s
SOLD
Beautiful old stylised realistic portrait figures. Man holds ceremonial figured staff & child a duck. Group includes a dog.
Figures wears traditional loin cloth, shell inlay eyes, 19th Century hair style.
Provenance: Early NZ collection then Geoffrey Hales Esq. Melbourne to the Palmer Family Collection.
Height: 37cm (14.5inches) x Width 34cm (13.5inches) x Depth 16cm (6.4inches) dog nose to tail.

For discussion please see;
http://arthur-palmer.blogspot.com/2007/06/solomon-island-article-oceanic-art.html

McCarthy,Fred. 1951. The Human Sculptures of the Solomon Islands. The Australian Museum Magazine.Vol.X,No.5. 139-143. Sydney NSW.

Palmer, Arthur Beau.2007. The Dancing Girls. 19Century Solomon Island Realist Dynamic Portrait Figures. Oceanic Arts Society. Vol.12. Issue 2. May 2007.Syndey NSW.

Phelps,Steven. 1976. Art & Artifacts of the Pacific, Africa and the Americas. The James Hooper Collection. London. Hutchinson Christies