Staff with Mother and Child
This short wooden staff from southern Borneo depicts a female figure clutching a child to her chest. The figure is rendered in a highly stylized attenuated form with wide shoulders and a tapering torso, flaring angular hips, and long thin legs. The main figure has a rounded head with eyes indicated by simple flat pits, a nose in low relief, and a small engraved dent for the mouth. Simple, engraved lines in triangular formation on the lower abdomen indicate the female sex of the principal figure. The shaft of the staff which extends below is undecorated.
Artwork Details
- Title: Staff with Mother and Child
- Date: 20th century
- Geography: Indonesia, Borneo
- Culture: Dayak people
- Medium: Wood
- Dimensions: H. 24 in. (61 cm)
- Classification: Wood-Implements
- Credit Line: Gift of Fred and Rita Richman, 2013
- Object Number: 2013.1137.9
- Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing
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