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Details
- Other Title
- Necklace (worn by both men and women)
- Place where the work was made
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Marawaka
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Eastern Highlands Province
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Papua New Guinea
- Cultural origin
- Baruya people
- Dates
- mid 20th century
collected 1969 - Media category
- Jewellery
- Materials used
- 4 pendants of grass stem, split rattan, yellow orchid stem fibre (Dendrobium), red machine wove cotton fabric, 5 yellow plant stem segments, wood pendant, plant fibre string
- Dimensions
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decoration 17.5 cm length; overall 101.5 cm length; pendants 4.2 to 15.7 cm length
:
0 - Whole, 2.3 cm (7/8"), length of longest bamboo segment
0 - Whole, 15.7 cm (6 3/16"), length of longest red fabric pendant
0 - Whole, 4.2 x 2.8 cm, wood pendant
0 - Whole, 101.5 cm (39 15/16"), length of cord
- Credit
- Gift of Stan Moriarty 1977
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- 723.1979
- Copyright
- © Anga people, under the endorsement of PIMA's 'Code of Ethics'
- Share
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About
Necklaces made by the Baruya people are among the most intriguing and beautiful forms of 'bilas' (body decoration) across the eastern highlands. Like all highlands societies, body decoration is reflective of a person's status within the community and certain items are given specific significance and meaning.
Particular necklaces were worn by Baruya men and women when mourning a dead relative. Some might include the mummified fingers of the deceased person as a sign of respect. Others, such as the 'kaaihwaarya' included small things belonging to the person. These items were wrapped in barkcloth – in this instance red cotton fabric – and hung in cylinders bound with cane and orchid fibre. The cylinders are also said to contain the scent gland of the cuscus, an animal associated with women's initiation ceremonies and marriage.
[Exhibition text for 'Plumes and pearlshells: art of the New Guinea highlands', AGNSW, 2014]
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Places
Where the work was made
Marawaka
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Exhibition history
Shown in 1 exhibition
Plumes and pearlshells: art of the New Guinea highlands, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 30 May 2014–10 Aug 2014
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Bibliography
Referenced in 2 publications
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Truus Daalder, Ethnic jewellery and adornment: Australia, Oceania, Asia, Africa, Adelaide, 2009, 68, 92 (colour illus.). fig.no. 128; NOTE: this reproduction is of a similar necklace from the Daalder Collection, Adelaide.
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Natalie Wilson (Editor), Plumes and pearlshells: art of the New Guinea highlands, Sydney, 2014, 109 (colour illus.), 162. cat.no. 55
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