IDNO

T.152383.RPT

Description

On Catalogue Card: "S.P. 257. New Guinea. Birds of Paradise. 35mm. Ekta." [Poignant's manuscript]
"29, 30. Totemic emblem. Long - necked fish - eating bird (Burala). Cylindrical core of paperbark tapered to the neck, bound with vegetable fibre string. The head is of beeswax into which are inserted two shaped pieces of wood for the beak. Attached to the body are two string pendants tipped with wax and black and white feathers representing the wings. Painted decoration: Red and yellow fish, horn shape, vertical zigzag line cut in the white wash so that red ground shows through. Yellow neck. Colours: red, yellow and white on red. ground. 29 ins. (.737) high. 3 1/2 ins (.089) diam. at base. Milingimbi, Arnhem Land. Source: Art Gallery of NSW Aquisitions. 1962. P.20." [Poignant's typed text]

Place

Australasia; Australia; Arnhem Land; Art Gallery of New South Wales

Cultural Affliation

Named Person

Photographer

Poignant, Axel

Collector / Expedition

Date

pre January 1970

Collection Name

Poignant Collection

Source

Poignant, Roslyn

Format

Colour Transparency

Primary Documentation

Other Information

T.148696.RPT - T.152693.RPT were located in the drawer file of transparency sheets, numbered C1021/.

T.152364.RPT - T.152388.RPT were located in a transparency sheet, numbered C1021/155.

Related object: Object shown is in the care of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, reference IA20.1962, with the following information: "Totemic emblem (Long necked fish eating bird)
circa 1950s. Artist: Unknown Australia. Central Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Materials used: paperbark, vegetable fibre string, beeswax, wood, feathers, red, yellow, white painted decoration. Dimensions 73.7 h x 8.9 diam. at base
Purchased 1962." [source: https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/IA20.1962 [KK 24/08/2022].