1909.387x

Unknown (Maker)

General Description: Decorated wooden drum cut into "alligator" mouth shape at one end, with a lizard skin and plant fibre binding, from New Guinea, Melanesia (, )
Researcher Description: From Purari Delta, probably Maipua (coastal community). Coluored with lime paint, but the pink has been added later and is not local. Drums are known as aravea (which also refers to the rosewood that it is made of). It is a man's object. The lizard skin top would have been tuned with beeswax. The faces are clan specific and represent imuni, ancestral spirits. Drums are used for any singing or performing, but also for specific ceremonies such as the annual masking ceremony - only men had access to the spirit world, they would make masks then wear them and play the drums while their sisters danced around them. The drums are held by the handle with one hand while played with the other. (Joshua Bell, UEA, 2007)

, 1909 pre

New Guinea (Maker)

wood (drum), skin (lizard)

carved, painted, modified animal, cut

Named Collection: Dauncey Collection