SPECIALIST: WILL HOBBS +44 (0) 1722 339 752
willhobbs@woolleyandwallis.co.uk
OPPOSITE. A New Caledonian ‘bird head’ club, Kanak People. Estimate: £1,500 - 2,000
2. Maori feather and tinder boxes, a fly whisk and an Aboriginal shield. Estimates from: £500 - 3,000
3. A Nootka whalebone club, 51.5cm long. Estimate: £5,000 - 6,000
4. A Songye power figure, D R Congo, 26.5cm high. Estimate: £4,000 - 6,000
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5. A Tonga headrest, Vava’u Island, 44.5cm wide. Estimate: £5,000 - 6,000
The sale will include a good cross section of the Tribal world. The Michael and Marlene Pennie collection of Lobi carvings from Burkina Faso, is mainly represented by figures in a variety of poses with an array of expressions. The carvings are often made with simple execution but the energy portrayed is very powerful. Another African piece with great presence is the Songye power figure (image 4), from the Democratic Republic of Congo, standing a mere 26.5cm high, it would have been owned by an individual rather than the larger community figures, embellished with ‘magical’ objects to ward off immediate danger and disease.
A particularly fine Austral Islands paddle (front cover) brought back to the UK in the 1870s from New Zealand and has remained in the same family until now. It has stayed in wonderful condition, unlike so many that have lost parts over the years; children and pets have a lot to answer for these days!
Illustrated within the group of Maori artefacts (image 2) are two boxes; the longer is a feather/treasure box, made to keep feathers of the Huia bird, worn in the hair as a rank of symbol, and other important ornaments, including hei tiki pendants, earrings and combs. The smaller box is a tinder-box, all over carved and with tiki handles to the side and cover. Behind these is a fly whisk, carved with a seated figure displaying a typical
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tattooed face, and an Aboriginal shield from Western Australia with carved lines of ochre and pigment, the back with an integral handle.
In many hot countries the practice of keeping your head off the ground dirt whilst resting has produced many variations of headrest (image 5). This particular example is from Tonga and is constructed using three carved components; the slightly round top is connected to the two pairs of legs using V
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shapes and sennit. The handwritten label states it was collected in 1902 whilst on the H.M.S. Pylades, a Royal Navy ship working out of the Australia Station.
From the west coast of Vancouver Island comes the 19th century whalebone club of the Nootka people (image 3), the handle carved with the profile of the thunderbird with lines running down the blade, terminating in a human form head, each side, possibly once filled with pieces of shell.
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