A pair of New Ireland Rainmaker skulls

A pair of New Ireland Rainmaker skulls
Bismarck Archipelago, Melanesia
with yellow, black and red pigment decoration, each with a differing symbol to the front, one inscribed NEW IRELAND RAIN MAKER'S SKULL M1837 MARAMAKAS VILLAGE and 229.08.1 and the other inscribed 229.08.2,
14cm and 14.5cm high,
in a tridacna gagas shell, 57.5cm wide. (3)

Provenance
Stanley Gordon Moriarty Collection, Sydney.

Reputedly the remains of father and son shaman priests, these skulls were stored in the giant clam shell. They would have been taken out for rituals and placed on wooden statues, functioning as sacred objects embodying the power of ancestral shamens.