A Rennell Island shark hook gaung'akao Melanesia wood with sennit

A Rennell Island shark hook gaung'akao

Melanesia

wood with sennit,

34.6cm high including the loop, 20cm high, without the loop.

Provenance

Bill Evans, Caspian Gallery, Sydney.

Joost and Truus Daalder Collection, Adelaide, Australia.

Private Collection, Sydney.

cf. Adrienne L. Kaeppler. The Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection of Polynesian Art, 2010, p.272, pl.227 - "Ritual hooks were used by the priest of the island to invoke the gods before fishing and were considered taboo."