Canoe Prow Ornament

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Origin Vanuatu

Title Canoe Prow Ornament

Date Early 20th century

Medium Wood

Dimensions Object: 12 × 37 × 8 in. (30.5 × 94 × 20.3 cm)
Overall: 12 × 8 × 37 in. (30.5 × 20.3 × 94 cm)

Credit Line Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University

Accession Number 80.115

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About this Work

Canoe prow ornaments, such as this one, were used in Vanuatu both to decorate a canoe and to aid those within it. Its form is that of a stylized and abstracted bird, a common motif. Birds are able to cover long stretches of water, and still know how to get back to land, making their depiction on canoe prows very appropriate. Because birds have this skill canoe prow ornaments in this form were believed to assist the individuals in the canoe to always find land again.

Provenance
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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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"Canoe Prow Ornament | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2024. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=80.115