Lot 67
DAYAK SWORD HANDLE, MANDAU
EASTERN BORNEO, INDONESIA
African & Oceanic Art, Antiquities and Natural History | 663
Auction: 24 November 2021 at 10:00 GMT
Description
carved horn and vegetal fibre, with a narrow grip of plaited fibre covering the shaft, the projecting spur elaborately carved with a skeletal figure shown projecting away from the handle and surrounded by intricate scrolling detail and animal forms, the underside with a human face mask indicated by low relief etching and a triangular projection forming the nose, a second mask is identified by rotating the piece 180 degrees, raised on a bespoke mount
Dimensions
11.4cm long
Footnote
Provenance:
Pascassio Manfedi, Paris
Private collection, London, United Kingdom, acquired from the above, June 2011. A copy of the original invoice will be made available to the winning bidder
Note:
The present piece is a fine work of Dayak carving that makes strong reference to the artists’ spiritual world. In the skeletal form we see reference to the cult of the ancestors, the shape is also highly suggestive of a link with Polynesian art, specifically that of the Maori hei-tiki figure. An interesting link given the shared, though distant, ancestry between these two diverse peoples.