Indigenous Taiwan
19th century
Height 20 inches width 3 1/4 inches (50.8 x 7.62 cm)
Wood and fiber
Provenance: Irwin Mechler, Vienna
Although the vast majority of the population of Taiwan today is of Chinese ancestry, the island is home to a number of indigenous peoples whose languages and cultures are related to those of other indigenous Island Southeast Asian groups as well as the peoples of Polynesia and Micronesia. The most prolific of Taiwan's indigenous wood carvers are the Paiwan, who live in the mountainous interior of the southern tip of the island. Paiwan artists achieved some of their most refined expressions of the human form in the creation of personal accessories. Adorned with facial features, are rendered with great skill and expressiveness, this Paiwan knife sheath was likely a treasured possession.
Fashioned from hardwood and painted a deep red, Paiwan knife sheaths are worn suspended from a loop of fiber, visible at the left. In embellishing knife sheaths, carvers depict various combinations of human forms, disembodied heads, and snakes (absent on the present example). The heads may represent more simplified ancestor images or, possibly, the heads of slain enemies. The more naturalistic treatment of faces on this sheath, suggest that its owner was a minor noble or commoner.
Indigenous Taiwan
19th century
Height 20 inches width 3 1/4 inches (50.8 x 7.62 cm)
Wood and fiber
Provenance: Irwin Mechler, Vienna
Although the vast majority of the population of Taiwan today is of Chinese ancestry, the island is home to a number of indigenous peoples whose languages and cultures are related to those of other indigenous Island Southeast Asian groups as well as the peoples of Polynesia and Micronesia. The most prolific of Taiwan's indigenous wood carvers are the Paiwan, who live in the mountainous interior of the southern tip of the island. Paiwan artists achieved some of their most refined expressions of the human form in the creation of personal accessories. Adorned with facial features, are rendered with great skill and expressiveness, this Paiwan knife sheath was likely a treasured possession.
Fashioned from hardwood and painted a deep red, Paiwan knife sheaths are worn suspended from a loop of fiber, visible at the left. In embellishing knife sheaths, carvers depict various combinations of human forms, disembodied heads, and snakes (absent on the present example). The heads may represent more simplified ancestor images or, possibly, the heads of slain enemies. The more naturalistic treatment of faces on this sheath, suggest that its owner was a minor noble or commoner.
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