LAKE SENTANI, PAPUA NEW GUINEA, LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Details

NINE GREEN-STONE OBLIGATION BLADES
LAKE SENTANI, PAPUA NEW GUINEA, LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY
All on later display stands
The largest: 10 in. (25.5 cm.) high

Special notice

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Benedict Winter

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Lot Essay

In Papua New Guiena there was a organised system of ceremonial exchange within a certain specified area. Individuals or communities would give prized objects to a partner in the same or a different village. They would not immediately receive a gift in return but at a future date would receive something of at least equal value. The ceremonial giving or kula would take many months of preparation and was perceived as the centre of economic, social and ceremonial life; it not only provided prestige by the accumulation of prized objects, such as these obligation stones, but most importantly created a network of obligations which contributed to social stability.

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