Old Massim canoe splashboard. Kiriwina Island, Trobriands (CPI)

A fine old and used piece with all the classic hallmarks of a good Massim splashboard from the Trobriands islands. This is NOT a canoe prow, but is part of the superstructure of the canoe. At the same time it is ritualistically the most important and significant carving on the canoe.

This piece has one lobe larger than the other, a common feature of Kirawina canoes, and because the larger lobe is on the left, we know it was once on the prow end of the canoe (the larger lobe was always in the outrigger side). The lobes are decorated with curvilinear bird head motifs and there is also a large bird head with a curved beak carved on the outside of the larger lobe. The figure in the centre is extremely important, it is called a “bualai” and is a spirit figure designed to protect the passengers in the canoe. There is sometimes one bualai figure, as on this board, and sometimes two.

Like most sea-going canoes in Melanesia, Trobriands canoes are carved from a single log, and balanced with an outrigger. The canoe makers of the Trobriands erect a box like structure on top of this hollowed log to shelter crew, passengers and cargoes, and this is closed at the prow and stern by a splashboard or “lagim”. A false prow called the” tabua” or wave splitter is placed in front of it, above the actual prow of the canoe. There is a lagim and tabua at each end. The long side planks that build up the sides of the canoe slot into the splashboards, and any splashboard which has actually been on a canoe will have parallel grooves cut in at the back on either side to hold them in place. (If there are no grooves, or the grooves are absolutely clean and new, the piece was either carved as a tourist piece or was abandoned before the canoe was completed (possibly because of the death of the owner). Dimensions: 79 x 56 cm / 31 x 22 inches.

Provenance: This piece was field collected by Senta Taft Henry when she visited the Trobriands in the 1960s. Senta still owns “Galleries Primitif”, Sydney’s oldest established Oceanic art gallery. She was an intrepid traveler and field collector during the 1960s and 1970s and participated in the search for Michael Rockefeller when he disappeared in West Papua. The piece was acquired from Galleries Primitif in the 1970s by the ex- owner.

References:

1. “Argonauts of the Western Pacific”, Bronislaw Malinowski, 1922

2.“Trobriand Canoe Prows” Fourteen pieces from the National Collection of the PNG Museum interpreted by Chief Narubutal, “Gigabori “ (PNG Museum magazine), Vol. 4, 1979.

This item has been sold.