Cleveland Museum of Art

Club

Date

before 1930

Medium

wood

Culture

Melanesia, New Guinea, Massim Area, Trobriand Islands, 20th century

Department

Oceania

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Craftsmen from the Trobriand Islands (off the coast of eastern New Guinea) decorated both utilitarian and ceremonial objects with elegant incised patterns. Usually these wooden objects were red or deep black in color. The engraved designs, depicting stylized frigate birds or human faces and figures, are infilled with lime. Drums, dance wands, shields, and canoe ornaments, together with spells and incantations, were part of the hereditary wealth of local Massim chiefs.

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