Property from an American Private Collection
Beeswax figure, North East Arnhem Land
Auction Closed
May 25, 09:41 PM GMT
Estimate
4,000 - 6,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Property from an American Private Collection
Beeswax figure, North East Arnhem Land
Circa 1940s
9 ¼ in (23.5 cm)
Alistair McAlpine, Baron McAlpine of West Green
Private Collection, New York, acquired from the above
Sotheby's, Melbourne, Aboriginal Art, 31 October 2006, lot 1, consigned by the above
American Private Collection, acquired from the above
Private Collection, New York, acquired from the above
Sotheby's, Melbourne, Aboriginal Art, 31 October 2006, lot 1, consigned by the above
American Private Collection, acquired from the above
Figures sculpted in beeswax and painted with clan designs such as this are associated with love magic and sorcery. The anthropologist Charles Mountford collected two human figures of Wuyal (Oijal) the boomerang-man, and his wife Neri-neri moulded in wax and painted with similar clan patterns, as well as eight painted wax sculptures of animals, at Yirrkala in 1948. These are illustrated in C. P. Mountford, Records of the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land, Volume 1: Art, Myth and Symbolism, Melbourne, 1956, pp. 322 and 451, pls. 104 and 143 respectively, and in R. M. Berndt, C. H. Berndt and J. E. Stanton, Aboriginal Australian Art: A Visual Perspective, Melbourne, 1992, p. 111, pl. 112.
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