Gope Board

c.1891
Collected in New Guinea by Rev. Edwin Bentley Savage, Ringwood, England [1]

1894 -
Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers (1827-1900), Dorset and Wiltshire, England, purchased from Edwin B. Savage; Alexander Edward Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers (1855-1927), by inheritance; George Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers (1890-1966), by inheritance; Stella Edith Pitt-Rivers (d. 1994), by inheritance [2]

- 1965
Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., New York, NY, USA

1965/04/22 - 1975
Morton D. May (1914–1983), St. Louis, MO, purchased at Parke-Bernet auction, April 22, 1965, lot. no. 106 [3]

1975 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Morton D. May [4]


Notes:
[1] Rev. Edwin Bentley Savage was a member of the London Missionary Society. Savage's collection is documented in nine volumes at the Cambridge University Library. This object was illustrated and described on p.1078 of the third volume. The entry stated the piece was "Bought of Mr. E. B. Savage, The Square, Ringwood...New Guinea Coll'n Mr. Savage made his collection in New Guinea, at the time he was a missionary there..."

[2] A handwritten entry in the inventory book dated October 1894 identifies this panel was "bought of Frank Hyams, Dunedin, New Zealand, Nov 1899" [copy of inventory entry provided by Cambridge University, SLAM document files]. Stella Lonsdale never married George Pitt-Rivers, but took his last name and inherited his estate upon his death in 1966. The collection at the Farnham Museum was sold shortly after.

[3] An invoice dated April 22, 1965 from Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc. to Morton D. May documents the purchase of this object, listed as "Ancestral Board" [Parke-Bernet catalogue, SLAM document files].

[4] A letter dated August 14, 1975 from Morton D. May to Mary-Edgar Patton, acting director of the Saint Louis Art Museum, includes the offer of this object as part of a larger donation [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, November 6, 1975.