Melanesia Unique Hand carved Oceanic art Rare Ebony Wood Bowl Mother Pearl 2A31

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Melanesia Unique Hand carved Oceanic art Rare Ebony Wood Bowl Mother Pearl 2A31:
$79.99

Item 2A31 in our inventory. Superb craftmanship and woodgrain, all hand carved with intense detail and primitive tools.

For more information on this piece scroll down for details

We are closing our doors so everything has been reduced!

Terrific value for a very rare item

A large Massim hand carved and handinlaid with mother of pearl dish or bowl

seen on all the pictures.

gorgeous EBONY wood, also heavily decorated with inserts of mother of pearl andtypical incised Trobriand designs 6\"x 2 1/2\" and 1\"high. We have reduced all our rare Melanesian bowls to less than 1/2 for quicksales. This is a completely hand crafted item created out of 1 piece ofprecious ebony wood with inlays of mother of pearl seen on photos 1, 3 and 5.

The remaining photos are of otherpieces created by these remote tribal people. and of some of the people and yamhouses taken while there.

All our handcrafted or rare collector items come withpages and pages of research, about provenance, with history of the tribes andphotos as well, depending on item and whenever possible.

This is a beautiful completely handcarved hand crafted Melanesian (remote Massim region) bowl seen on photo 1 and following photos,with delicate time consuming hand incised motifs on border and adorned withinserts of mother of pearl all over, from the isolated , beautifully carved bya local master carver with rudimentary tools. We show pictures of people andyam houses we took when we go there, and other examples of Trobriand handcarved art on the following photos, also available and that we will be listingregularely when we have time.

Amazingly beautiful considering thebasic tools used such as pieces of broken shells, rusted nails from shipwrecksfound on the beaches, and sea ray, shark skin or an animal horn or tusk rubbedfor days against the surface till all is smooth, among other sanding materials,and to produce a sheen on the wood.

In perfect condition and a great value at that price. Itis very hard to come across such colletables unless you go there.

These beautiful receptacles are rareitems of the Kula ring. We collected them while in the which are north of ,next to . We collected many beautiful pieces while in the Trobriands fromcarvings (created out of kwila, rosewood and ebony) to costumes, drums and Kularing exchange items that we will list whenever we have time.

In these islands which are rarely visited,outside influence is at a minimum. The extremely skilled carvers inspirethemselves from what is around them as they have access to nothing else: thenatives, birds, fish, pigs, marine turtles, snakes and whatever they see intheir dreams such as dragons or mystical figures.

Some of these items have very importantmeanings as they are used as part of the Kula ring trade system that hasexisted between the islands for centuries.

The Kula ring is a system of exchangeinvolving annual inter-island visits between trading partners who exchangehighly valued shell ornaments and other things during year long sea travels.

In his Argonauts of the Western Pacific(1922), Malinowski analyzed the kula ring, the exchange of shell valuables in acircle around the chain of the . These ornaments were traded from island toisland in a counter-clockwise direction:

A long time ago when the days were longer and the nightsshorter lived a hero called Tava who at times took the form of a snake. Tavawas known to pass between the villages that are identified as the active . Whenhe was present in a village the people were said to have good fortune andprosper. His location was known only to one woman in each village and she wouldfeed and tend to him. If he felt mistreated or betrayed at any time he wouldmove on to the next island. On his departing the good fortune would also departwith him. He would nevertheless leave each village with a trade.

This trade ranged from a surplus ofpigs and yams in the Trobriands to the fine art or pottery found in theAmphletts. Other places became known for obsidian and Betel nut. It is believedthat this myth could be one of the origins of the and the way it functions.Kula is a ritualized trading culture existing in Eastern which the Trobriandsare part of. It is essentially network of villages joined by a common traderoute, known as the . By analogy, Kula allows you to experience the magic andlegends of . Kula was and still is a life sustaining cultural exchange. It isunfortunate that much of the time and energy that was used in the past to holdtogether the social foundation is now being clouded with the desire for money,a by-product of a tourism-based economy. With influences such as these and theadvancement of technology, the intricate pattern in which traditional valuesare based is slowly eroding. Kula is the basis of mental and physicalwell-being. The has always been associated with making contact with far offneighbors. Traditionally two kinds of items were traded; arm bands carved fromthe toea shell know as Mwali and spondylus shell necklaces, Soulava. Each ofthese items was traded individually. Mwali and Soulava traveled in oppositedirections around the (group of islands). Mwali passed anticlockwise in the ringand were given with the right hand, the Soulava passed clockwise and wasoffered with the left hand, first between villages then from island to island.

Such pieces are used by the indigenouspeople of the most primitive areas of Papua New Guinea.These proud people havemanaged, in the face of continued government and missionary pressure, tomaintain a culture of incredible depth and beauty. For the most part, theystill live by the same methods as have existed in their remote land forthousands of years.

we go straight to the source to findthese treasures

All our collector and rare items comewith pages and pages of research about provenance, and with history of thetribes and photos as well, depending on item and whenever possible. When shippinginternationally, we group ship multiple purchases to save you money, and findthe best rates available. If you have any questions or want to see researchconducted on this piece and photos of tribes, email or call us.

We have artifacts and architecturalaccents up to 10 ft tall that we will put on upon request because shipping hasto be calculated.