Flywhisk Handle
| Culture | Austral Islands |
|---|---|
| Title | Flywhisk Handle (Tahiri Ra'a) |
| Date | 19th century |
| Medium | Wood, sennit, fiber, and and dye |
| Dimensions | Object: 15 1/2 × 2 3/8 × 2 in. (39.4 × 6 × 5.1 cm) Overall (includes mount): 16 1/8 × 2 3/4 × 2 3/4 in. (41 × 7 × 7 cm) |
| Credit Line | Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 2010.9 |
| This artwork is currently on view. | |
A handle with woven sennit and dyed fiber on one end, and a carved wooden portion on the other end. The wooden portion has an anthropomorphic form at the top, which has a beak-like head, and is squatting with its arms crossed.
The handle depicts a pair of figures, back-to-back, with elongated faces. Two knobs on the foreheads reflect a hairstyle worn by Austral Islanders. The notches below the double figure may have represented the lineage of the owner and may have served as reminders during genealogical recitations, important for establishing status and rank within Polynesians societies. On the lower shaft, fibers of contrasting colors have been braided in diamond-shaped patterns; the application of these fibers would have been accompanied by prayers, which imbued the whisk with additional mana, or spiritual power. These fibers would have attached the coconut-fiber whisk, now missing, to the handle.
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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"Flywhisk Handle | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2010.9