Bird Image
Date19th century
Maker
Melanesian
Label TextThis bird appears in the rare form of mouth sculpture, which appears in a performance described like this: “Each dancer wears a feather headdress and carries a bird’s beak in his mouth. These represent the birds (kania) that sit on logs and reefs in the sea and look at sharks. The dancers kneel in their places, with hands clasped behind their backs to sway in unison, which is a dramatization of the birds sitting on the reef or in trees.”
Object number70.3
Provenance[Mathias Komer, New York, New York]; Richard Fuller (1897-1976), Seattle, Washington; gifted to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1970
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, The Untold Story, Nov. 14, 2003 - Nov. 14, 2004.
Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Pacific Species, Dec. 12, 2022 - ongoing.Credit LineEugene Fuller Memorial Collection
Dimensions8 1/2 x 2 in. (21.59 x 5.08 cm)
L.: 20 in.
Overall h.: 13 1/2 in.
MediumWood with polychrome shell, glass beads, and inlaid sea snail shells
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