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• Auction House:
  Bonhams Australia
• Sale Name:
  Important Australian Art
• Sale Date:
  11 May 2022 ~ 7.30pm (AEST)
• Lot #:
  31
• Lot Description:
  Maker Unknown - A ceremonial club, Tiwi Islands
  RELATED EXAMPLES: Forked throwing stick (milunata) illustrated in Charles P. Mountford, The Tiwi: Their Art, Myth and Ceremony, Phoenix House, London, 1958, pl. 32C ; Forked throwing stick (jamburaringa) illustrated in Jennifer Isaacs, Tiwi : art, history, culture, Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2012, p. 63
  natural earth pigments on hardwood
  length: 113.5cm (44 11/16in).
• Provenance:
  Private collection, United States of America, acquired in Australia between 1967 and 1973
• Notes:
  According to Sandra Holmes Le Brun, Tapara, the Moon man, was the creator of the forked club.1 In the Tiwi ancestor story about the first death, Tapara commits adultery with his brother Purukuparli's wife. As a result, Bima neglects her child Jinani, who dies from exposure and hunger. Tapara is described as fighting with a forked club and Purukuparli stabs his brother in the eye.2 Following the death of his son, Purukuparli taught the Tiwi people the pukumani mourning ceremony where burial posts (tutini) are carved and decorated and then placed around the grave. The form of a forked clubs often adorns the top of the pukumani poles. 1. Sandra Le Brun Holmes, The Goddess and the Moon Man: The Sacred Art of the Tiwi Aborigines, Craftsman House, Sydney, 1995, p. 135; 2. Jennifer Isaacs, Spirit Country: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art, Hardie Grant Books, Melbourne, 2002, p. 206
• Estimate:
  A$1,500 - 2,500
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Tribal

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.