Papua New Guinea Fiber-Wrapped Stone Adze Blades - Boar Tusk & Fur

Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, Highlands. A pair of ground stone adze blades, each socketed into a sheath of tightly woven cotton and vegetal fiber cord. One is worked with bands of yellow-dyed cane and hung with a tassel of black boar bristle; the other bears a tuft of fluffy red fur and a pair of curved boar tusks. Both retain short braided carrying straps. In the New Guinea Highlands, hafted stone adzes served as everyday woodworking tools for felling trees, hollowing canoes, and shaping timber, but elaborately decorated examples like these also functioned as prestige and ceremonial objects, displayed and exchanged as markers of wealth and status. Item # 203749

Estimate:$300

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