Sorcerer’s Implement (arhiye kaiyam)
- Culture
- Strickland River artist
- Culture
- Fly River artist
- Date
- 19th–early 20th century
- Material
- Crocodile tooth, plant fiber
- Classification
- Bone & shell, tools & equipment
- Collection
- Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
- Current Location
- On View, Gallery 106
- Dimensions
- 4 1/2 × 1 1/16 × 1 3/16 in. (11.5 × 2.8 × 3 cm)
- Credit Line
- Funds given by Antonio I. Longrais, D.D.S.
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 61:2000
NOTES
This crocodile tooth has been carved to resemble a bird’s head, possibly a Papuan hornbill. Combining traits from two animals, the fearsome crocodile that inhabits land and water, and the hornbill that flies, possibly allowed the owner of this implement to symbolically traverse both the physical and spiritual realms.
Magic and sorcery once played a vital role in Melanesian society. These traditions were used to both heal and harm. Potent materials like blood or beeswax could be secretly added to the tooth. In terms of healing, a sorcerer would use the implement to find and return things lost or stolen, such as a soul to a sick owner. To inflict harm, a sorcerer would recite certain words over the implement and symbolically “shoot” it into a victim causing illness or death.
Provenance
c.1952
Collected from a village on the lakes region between the Fly River and the border with West Papua near Lake Murray, Papua New Guinea [1]
c.1952 - c.1985
Private Collection, New Zealand [2]
c.1985 - 2000
John "Jack" Charles Edler, Bloomington, IN, USA, purchased from private collection [3]
2000 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Jack Edler [4]
Notes:
[1] Collector was a New Zealander (probably a Mr. Williams) who worked with the flying missionary services in Papua New Guinea setting up airstrips in this region in 1953-54 [information provided by dealer, SLAM document files].
[2] See Note 1.
[3] Purchased around 1985 from the New Zealand collector by Jack Edler, a dealer in tribal art living in Bloomington, Indiana. See Note 1.
[4] An invoice dated October 12, 2000 from Jack Edler to the Saint Louis Art Museum documents the purchase of this object, listed as "Crocodile Tooth Sorcerer's Pendant / Upper Trans-Fly River / Papua New Guinea" [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 6, 2000.
Collected from a village on the lakes region between the Fly River and the border with West Papua near Lake Murray, Papua New Guinea [1]
c.1952 - c.1985
Private Collection, New Zealand [2]
c.1985 - 2000
John "Jack" Charles Edler, Bloomington, IN, USA, purchased from private collection [3]
2000 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from Jack Edler [4]
Notes:
[1] Collector was a New Zealander (probably a Mr. Williams) who worked with the flying missionary services in Papua New Guinea setting up airstrips in this region in 1953-54 [information provided by dealer, SLAM document files].
[2] See Note 1.
[3] Purchased around 1985 from the New Zealand collector by Jack Edler, a dealer in tribal art living in Bloomington, Indiana. See Note 1.
[4] An invoice dated October 12, 2000 from Jack Edler to the Saint Louis Art Museum documents the purchase of this object, listed as "Crocodile Tooth Sorcerer's Pendant / Upper Trans-Fly River / Papua New Guinea" [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, September 6, 2000.
We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.