Null KANAK FRAME, THALE, NEW CALEDONIA
H. 128 cm

Provenance :
- Father Patrick …
Description

KANAK FRAME, THALE, NEW CALEDONIA H. 128 cm Provenance : - Father Patrick O'Reilly - Loiseau-Schmitz-Digard, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, March 8, 1998, lot 152 - Private collection Perpetuating the memory of the ancestor in order to preserve his protection, the thale (or jovo) wood panels carved by the Kanak people to frame the entrance door of the Grande Case represent the ancestral figure wrapped in his tapa shroud. A worthy witness to this corpus, particularly representative of Kanak art, the doorframe shown above has a diamond motif in its lower part, over which hangs a stylized face. Occupying the entire width of the curved board, the face with its swollen cheeks, broad arrowhead nose and thin mouth is characteristic of the Kanak style. In a singular manner, the eyes are evoked by two rounded protuberances.

146 

KANAK FRAME, THALE, NEW CALEDONIA H. 128 cm Provenance : - Father Patrick O'Reilly - Loiseau-Schmitz-Digard, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, March 8, 1998, lot 152 - Private collection Perpetuating the memory of the ancestor in order to preserve his protection, the thale (or jovo) wood panels carved by the Kanak people to frame the entrance door of the Grande Case represent the ancestral figure wrapped in his tapa shroud. A worthy witness to this corpus, particularly representative of Kanak art, the doorframe shown above has a diamond motif in its lower part, over which hangs a stylized face. Occupying the entire width of the curved board, the face with its swollen cheeks, broad arrowhead nose and thin mouth is characteristic of the Kanak style. In a singular manner, the eyes are evoked by two rounded protuberances.

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A Ouénite coin-bead necklace from La Korrigane's voyage. Ouen Island, south of Grande Terre in New Caledonia, was traditionally renowned for the exploitation of "jade", which is more precisely nephrite throughout New Caledonia, and from which are carved the blades of axes, adzes and the famous Kanak monstrance axes. We know, thanks to the Société des Océanistes, which has carried out several research campaigns and confirmed this in a detailed study on the subject, that the beads on the coin necklaces are not carved from nephrite but from a different, softer stone. This is a crystalline rock composed mainly of anorthite, with a small component of amphibole, ranging from pale to darker green with white veins and small emerald-green flecks, specific to Île Ouen and also identified in the Rivière Bleue basin, called Ouénite (1911, Lacroix). It is oral tradition, essential to Kanak culture, that recalls the importance of Ouen Island as one of the high points and historical source of the exploitation of this stone for pearl coins, and that led the oceanists on their way to this island. In Jean Roudillon's notes: "Collier de femme de chef. Serpentine from Île d'Ouen, New Caledonia Reported by Madame de Ganay, who offered it to me (voyage of the Korrigane March 28, 1934 - June 1936)". Kanak, New Caledonia Carved and polished Ouénite beads, very fine old patina. L.: 39 cm See : The Kanak "jade cycle". An archaeological reappraisal of a traditional trade network in Southern Melanesia. Journal de la Société des océanistes n° 144-145, 2017. Provenance: - Collected during the Voyage de La Korrigane - Collection of Madame De Ganay - Collection Jean Roudillon (offered by the latter)