Papuan Gulf Betel Nut Staff

Description:

Papuan Gulf Betel Nut Staff, Wapo Delta, Papuan Gulf Province, Papua New Guinea, late 19th century, hardwood staff, with an abstract head at the top, below is a 5-in. cutout, with lime-filled incised decoration on either side, used to hang dried betel nuts during festivities, inventory number "L 759/45" from the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, the piece was on loan at the museum from 1926 to 1955, with metal stand, lg. 33 in.

Provenance: Collected in 1914 by Frank L. Heald, Pennsylvania, while working for Standard Oil.

Literature: Paul Wirz, Ethnographie des Papua-Golfes, Britisch-Neuguinea (Leipzig, 1934),p. 21, number 9.
Estimate $700-900


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