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Dance hat, 19th century
Bamboo, cane, coconut bast, pigment, bindings, soft porous wood to facilitate the attachment of feathers
40.6 x 40.6 cm (16 x 16 in.)
The Marcia and John Friede Collection, a Promised Gift to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco L05.1.422

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Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art PUBLICATIONS: 2005 - "The face design is that of the balum spirit, a benign spirit in the Huon area. These dance hats were made with local variations throughout the Huon Gulf and Vitiaz Strait, extending to the Siassi Islands and perhaps to New Britain. Chauvet, 1930, fig. 382 illustrates a similar hat from "Cap Koenig Wilhelm," now Sio village/Teliata Point, on the north coast of the Huon Peninsula. Bodrogi, 1961a: 144, illustrates Yabim examples and describes their use. Tischner, 1981, no. 44 illustrates a Siassi hat. During the sia dance the male dancer simultaneously plays on a drum he holds in his hand and sings. Female dancers dressed in colorful skirts dance slowly in a circle around the men. The sia dance, including the accompanying music and dance hat, probably originated along the north coast of New Guinea and moved via the Siassi Islands to New Britain. (Gerbrands, unpublished documentation with a sia dance hat from the Kilenge, west New Britain, is in the collection of the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden.) In 1981, we observed modern versions made of canvas in Awar village, near the mouth of the Ramu River. When asked why they were there, the answer was that the young men of the village had worked in the Huon Gulf on copra plantations. They had obtained permission to make the hats to use in a ceremony commemorating their memories of those times." (Catalog #373, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 145.)

Related Keywords
hat Dance Francisco San Museums Arts Fine Gift Promised Friede John Marcia Art Jolika people Yabim Oceania Province Morobe Guinea New Accessory Costume feathers attachment facilitate wood porous soft bindings pigment bast coconut cane Bamboo 0709200406050266 A365335 L05.1.422 AOA