Australia, Kimberley, Western Australia
1940s
Pearl shell, ochre, human hair
Height: 7 inches (17.8 cm); Width: 5 inches (12.7 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
This longka longka retains its original human hair attachment at the suspension point — a feature that places it among the more complete examples of its type, as the organic cordage on most collected shells has been lost. The shell face is engraved with a bold geometric maze design rendered in two registers, the incised lines filled with ochre and organized into angular interlocking forms across the full surface. Longka longka were produced in the Kimberley and distributed through extensive intertribal exchange networks that carried them far inland, and their presence at Yuendumu — deep in the Western Desert — reflects the reach of those networks.
The provenance of this shell connects it directly to a documented group collected at Yuendumu in the early 1970s by an Aboriginal education officer, with 66 shells from the same cache entering the National Gallery of Australia. That institutional acquisition confirms the cultural and historical significance attached to the group, and this example's bold engraving, intact hair attachment, and documented collecting context make it among the more fully provenanced longka longka available outside an institutional collection.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Australia, Kimberley, Western Australia
1940s
Pearl shell, ochre, human hair
Height: 7 inches (17.8 cm); Width: 5 inches (12.7 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
This longka longka retains its original human hair attachment at the suspension point — a feature that places it among the more complete examples of its type, as the organic cordage on most collected shells has been lost. The shell face is engraved with a bold geometric maze design rendered in two registers, the incised lines filled with ochre and organized into angular interlocking forms across the full surface. Longka longka were produced in the Kimberley and distributed through extensive intertribal exchange networks that carried them far inland, and their presence at Yuendumu — deep in the Western Desert — reflects the reach of those networks.
The provenance of this shell connects it directly to a documented group collected at Yuendumu in the early 1970s by an Aboriginal education officer, with 66 shells from the same cache entering the National Gallery of Australia. That institutional acquisition confirms the cultural and historical significance attached to the group, and this example's bold engraving, intact hair attachment, and documented collecting context make it among the more fully provenanced longka longka available outside an institutional collection.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
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