Australia, Kimberley, Western Australia
1940s
Pearl shell, ochre, human hair string
Height: 6 inches (15.2 cm); Width: 2¼ inches (5.7 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, Sydney, Australia; collected in the early 1970s by an Aboriginal education officer at Yuendumu, where shells were stored in a 44-gallon drum following ceremony; 66 shells from the same group were subsequently acquired by the National Gallery of Australia
Among the shells in this Yuendumu group, this example is distinguished by the length and volume of its human hair string suspension, which cascades from the pierced top in a thick, looped cord that would have been as visually prominent as the shell itself when worn. The face is engraved with a dense maze pattern organized into four quadrants, the incised lines filled with ochre and covering the shell's surface from edge to edge with no unworked ground remaining. The narrow proportions of this shell — markedly more elongated relative to its width than most longka longka — give the engraved design a compressed, vertical energy.
The Yuendumu provenance connects this piece to a ceremonially stored group of longka longka gathered by an Aboriginal education officer in the early 1970s, 66 of which subsequently entered the National Gallery of Australia. The retention of such a substantial length of original hair string on this example is itself noteworthy, as the organic suspension material on most collected shells has not survived, and its presence here reinforces the integrity of the object as collected.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Australia, Kimberley, Western Australia
1940s
Pearl shell, ochre, human hair string
Height: 6 inches (15.2 cm); Width: 2¼ inches (5.7 cm)
Provenance: Private collection, Sydney, Australia; collected in the early 1970s by an Aboriginal education officer at Yuendumu, where shells were stored in a 44-gallon drum following ceremony; 66 shells from the same group were subsequently acquired by the National Gallery of Australia
Among the shells in this Yuendumu group, this example is distinguished by the length and volume of its human hair string suspension, which cascades from the pierced top in a thick, looped cord that would have been as visually prominent as the shell itself when worn. The face is engraved with a dense maze pattern organized into four quadrants, the incised lines filled with ochre and covering the shell's surface from edge to edge with no unworked ground remaining. The narrow proportions of this shell — markedly more elongated relative to its width than most longka longka — give the engraved design a compressed, vertical energy.
The Yuendumu provenance connects this piece to a ceremonially stored group of longka longka gathered by an Aboriginal education officer in the early 1970s, 66 of which subsequently entered the National Gallery of Australia. The retention of such a substantial length of original hair string on this example is itself noteworthy, as the organic suspension material on most collected shells has not survived, and its presence here reinforces the integrity of the object as collected.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
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