oceania | Solomon Islands
Canoe prow
Solomon Islands
Nguzunguzu canoe prow figurehead
New Georgia, Solomon Islands
Carved wood, pigments and abalone
Late 19th or early 20th century
Height: 5 ¾ in. – 14.5 cm
Provenance
Collection Jean-Yves Coué, Nantes, France
Sotheby’s Paris, “Extra! Objets rares et singuliers extra-européens”, 7 July 2021 lot 106
Private collection, France
Solomon Prow / Galerie Flak
Price: on request
As stated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, « canoes in the western Solomon Islands, essential to transportation, fishing, and warfare, were formerly lavishly adorned. The centerpiece of the prow was a distinctive figurehead, known variously as a nguzu nguzu, musu musu, or toto isu. Attached at the waterline so that it dipped in the sea as the canoe rode the waves, the figurehead reportedly served as a supernatural protector ensuring safe passage and a successful expedition.
The images on the figureheads are typically busts depicted with large heads and circular ear ornaments and small arms with the hands raised to the chin or clasping a smaller head or bird. The jutting jaws of the images were reportedly attributes of spirits and the figureheads are sometimes said to depict, or, alternatively, afford protection from, dangerous sea spirits known as kesoko. ».
The images on the figureheads are typically busts depicted with large heads and circular ear ornaments and small arms with the hands raised to the chin or clasping a smaller head or bird. The jutting jaws of the images were reportedly attributes of spirits and the figureheads are sometimes said to depict, or, alternatively, afford protection from, dangerous sea spirits known as kesoko. ».
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