A BAINING DAY DANCE POLE ORNAMENT

Provenance: Hiltrup Missionaries, Bischop Karl Hesse, Germany

The painted bark cloth display pieces, headdresses, and masks created for the day-dance ceremonies are worn by men. The day dances are guided by ornaments on huge poles, sometimes five meters long. The men who perform the dances present themselves to a female orchestra who sing and beat bamboo tubes on rocks and wood on the ground.

This day dance pole ornament is made of Tapa Cloth from the Mulberry tree that has been stretch over a cane superstructure.
Cf: Baining, Life and Lore, Karl Hesse
Barkpainting, Natural pigments, cane, first half 20th Century.

East New Britain Provence
Tapa, rotan, raffia and pigments, size: 140 cm

Price: € 1.500,-