Dance Staff
Santa Cruz, Solomon Islands
19th-early 20th century
Provenance: The Collection of Marguerite Jossel Appleman.
Old collection number painted at the bottom of the staff, “632”
This dance wand or club known as a napa is fashioned from a single piece of blonde wood. Of elongated form, tapering to a point at one end, it is decorated with red, white and black ochre – colors reserved for the decoration of ritual and status objects. The form is that of a stylized canoe, with two opposing abstracted ancestor heads.
Dance Staff
Santa Cruz, Solomon Islands
19th-early 20th century
Provenance: The Collection of Marguerite Jossel Appleman. Old collection number painted at the bottom of the staff, “632”
This dance wand or club known as a napa is fashioned from a single piece of blonde wood. Of elongated form, tapering to a point at one end, it is decorated with red, white and black ochre – colors reserved for the decoration of ritual and status objects. The form is that of a stylized canoe, with two opposing abstracted ancestor heads.