Early 20th Century Dance Wand, Napa, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon Islands

Napa dance wand, Nendo people, Temotu Province, Santa Cruz Islands, Solomon IslandsAn unusually large napa dance wand in the form of a highly stylized canoe, tapering to a point at one end. Two raised ancestor heads are incorporated into the geometric linear patterns in black and red. The handle has a rectangular suspension lug, typical of earlier examples, and there are three longitudinal cracks, the result of the multiple strikes that occur during the napa dance.36 by 3 inches (91.5 by 7.5 cm); wood, ochre, black ochre.Ex private collection, CA, ex. David Bromwell collection, Bolinas, CA, ex. Tad Dale Gallery, Santa Fecf. Hurst, N., Power and Prestige: The Arts of Island Melanesia and the Polynesian Outliers, Hurst Gallery, 1996.