Melanesian Massim Trobriands Rare Oceanic Art Hand Carved Bowl Mother pearl 2A64

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Melanesian Massim Trobriands Rare Oceanic Art Hand Carved Bowl Mother pearl 2A64:
$299.99

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You are buying the very large, thick, solid and heavy hand carved bowl (item 2A64) 1/2 PRICED NOW!

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Rare Oceanic art item, masterpiece of hand carving from a very good sculptor, artist, from a very primitive culture:

1) Melanesia Massim Kula Trobriand hand carved Kwila wood bowl 16\" in diameter and 4\" deep, with an elegant hand carved wide border adorned with inserts of mother of pearl.

This is a beautiful completely hand carved handcrafted Melanesian (remote Massim region) kwila carving, hard to collect from this very isolated group of islands northeast of Papua new Guinea.

the little circles of pearlshell are glued with natural gum glues or sap

obtained from trees after aninsert is first created to fit them,

collected in the isolated Trobriand islands.

Beautifully carved works by a local master carverusing rudimentary tools.

We show pictures of people and yam houses we took whenwe go there, and other examples of Trobriand hand carved art on the followingphotos, also available and that we will be listing regularely when we havetime.

Amazingly perfect considering the basictools used such as pieces of broken shells, rusted nails from shipwrecks foundon the beaches, and sea ray, shark skin or an animal horn or tusk rubbed fordays against the surface till all is smooth, among other sanding materials, andto produce a sheen on the wood.

It is very hard to come across such collectablesunless you go there.

These beautiful art pieces are rare items ofthe Kula ring. We collected them while in the field in these remote rarelyvisited islands north of Papua NewGuinea. We collected many beautiful pieces while in the Trobriands from carvings (created out of kwila,rosewood and ebony) to costumes, drums and Kula ring exchange items that we listwhenever we have time.

In these islands which arerarely visited, outside influence is at a minimum. The extremely skilledcarvers inspire themselves from what is around them as they have access tonothing else: the natives, birds, fish, pigs, marine turtles, snakes andwhatever they see in their dreams such as dragons or mystical figures.

Some of these items havevery important meanings as they are used as part of the Kula ring trade systemthat has existed between the islands for centuries.

The Kula ring is a systemof exchange involving annual inter-island visits between trading partners whoexchange highly valued shell ornaments and other things during year long seatravels.

In his Argonauts of theWestern Pacific (1922), Malinowski analyzed the kula ring, the exchange ofshell valuables in a circle around the chain of the . These ornaments weretraded from island to island in a counter-clockwise direction:

A long time ago when the days were longer andthe nights shorter lived a hero called Tava who at times took the form of asnake. Tava was known to pass between the villages that are identified as theactive . When he was present in a village the people were said to have goodfortune and prosper. His location was known only to one woman in each villageand she would feed and tend to him. If he felt mistreated or betrayed at anytime he would move on to the next island. On his departing the good fortunewould also depart with him. He would nevertheless leave each village with atrade.

This trade ranged from asurplus of pigs and yams in the Trobriands to the fine art or pottery found inthe Amphletts. Other places became known for obsidian and Betel nut. It isbelieved that this myth could be one of the origins of the and the way itfunctions. Kula is a ritualized trading culture existing in Eastern which theTrobriands are part of. It is essentially network of villages joined by acommon trade route, known as the . By analogy, Kula allows you to experiencethe magic and legends of . Kula was and still is a life sustaining culturalexchange. It is unfortunate that much of the time and energy that was used inthe past to hold together the social foundation is now being clouded with thedesire for money, a by-product of a tourism-based economy. With influences suchas these and the advancement of technology, the intricate pattern in whichtraditional values are based is slowly eroding. Kula is the basis of mental andphysical well-being. The has always been associated with making contact withfar off neighbors. Traditionally two kinds of items were traded; arm bandscarved from the toea shell know as Mwali and spondylus shell necklaces,Soulava. Each of these items was traded individually. Mwali and Soulavatraveled in opposite directions around the (group of islands). Mwali passedanticlockwise in the ring and were given with the right hand, the Soulavapassed clockwise and was offered with the left hand, first between villagesthen from island to island.

Such pieces are used by theindigenous people of the most primitive areas of Papua New Guinea.These proudpeople have managed, in the face of continued government and missionarypressure, to maintain a culture of incredible depth and beauty. For the mostpart, they still live by the same methods as have existed in their remote landfor thousands of years.

we go straight to thesource to find these treasures,

We are closing our doors so everything has beenreduced!

Check Dominique Rice Oceania Store in SunSentinel Newspaper, Fort Lauderdale, for information on our collection andauthentic art.

If you have any questions, contact us or callfor documents and further information on pieces.

All our collector and rare itemscome with pages and pages of research about provenance, and with history of thetribes and photos as well, depending on item and whenever possible. Whenshipping internationally, we group ship multiple purchases to save you money,and find the best rates which often fails to calculate right. If you have anyquestions or want to see research conducted on this piece and photos of tribes,email or call us.

We have artifacts andarchitectural accents up to 10 ft tall that we will put on upon request becauseshipping has to be calculated accordingly with trucking company.