Elema Dance Wand, Purari Delta, Papuan Gulf, Papua New Guineaaviya height 24 1/2in (62.25cm)Provenance Christensen Fund, Perth, AustraliaMicheal Hamson Oceanic Art, Palos Verdes Estates, CaliforniaLawrence Pebbles Collection, California Cf. Lewis, A.B., Carved and Painted Designs From New Guinea, 1931; Chauvet, Stephan, Les Arts Indigenes en Nouvelle-Guinee, 1930;Newton, Douglas, Art Styles of the Papuan Gulf, 1961;Friede, John, New Guinea Art, 2005, Plate 448This extremely rare example retains much of the original pigments and shows a full-figured dancer holding a dance wand atop the gaping crocodile mouth.