Papua New Guinea Canoe Prow of Friar Bird Form

Rare Papua New Guinea, Walomo village, canoe prow, c.1970s, of bird form, in tones of red, brown, yellow and white, set on a custom stand, height 31 cm and 43.5 cm (including stand), width 23 cm catalogue note: this is the full size prow piece of one of the elaborately carved traditional fishing canoes of Walomo village, on the Png-West Papua border. It was carved in the 1970s. In her book 'Canoes of Walomo' Hermione Frankel describes the bird as a Friar bird, a noisy and inquisitive land bird which is recognized by the local people as a messenger for the ancestors, giving warning of danger and watching over the canoe. The bird's head and crop are always carved above stylized and entwined fish including tiger and hammerhead sharks, dolphins and the tiny sprat mu?me?me that follows fishing canoes. (note the yellow hammerhead shark and the red and black tiger shark in the close up). Fishermen of Wanamo hunt sharks from their frail canoes, attracting the shark with a bloody bait in the water, catching its head in a noose, and bludgeoning it to death, but the sharks are semi sacred and the fisherman himself cannot eat his catch when it is cooked for the feast that follows.