To learn more on Taíno culture, read the article by José R. Oliver and Colin McEwan, “The Caribbean before Columbus” published in Arts & Cultures 2009, pp. 92-101.

L’article Taíno mortar pestles est apparu en premier sur Barbier-Mueller Museum.

In the Marquesas Islands, the human body with large eyes is the main artistic motif carved in the round, or on clubs, jewels, ear ornaments or fans sporting their owner’s social status or personal prestige.

From C. Ivory, “The Marquesas Islands” in Arts of the South Seas, Island Southeast Asia, Melanesia, Polynesia, Micronesia, The Collections of the Musée Barbier-Mueller, Munich, London, New York, Prestel Verlag, 1999, pp. 332-341.

L’article Tiki of the Marquesas Islands est apparu en premier sur Barbier-Mueller Museum.

It is likely that these heads represent chiefs and sub-chiefs of ethnic groups that preceded the current Mende and Kono in the parts of the country where these objects were found.

L’article A unique “mahen yafe” head est apparu en premier sur Barbier-Mueller Museum.

The Iniet society is an important Tolai society which uses many different art forms to represent varied ancestor and spirit entities. Male Tolai are traditionally initiated into the Iniet society during childhood, becoming in turn the initiators when they reach adulthood. The early German colonial government and the various missionary societies actively tried to suppress the activities of the society, so that it went underground, surviving in one form or another to the present day. Traditionally, there are two major types of Iniet society practice, a positive-oriented one that brings happiness and good luck and a negative-oriented one that brings sickness and death.

Various anthropomorphic wooden figures, wooden grotesque human/animal composite figures, carved or painted boards with evil Iniet society spirit figures and carved and painted stone (such as the one here) and chalk figures (kulap), were used by the Iniet in a range of ceremonial contexts.

The use of chalk and stone figures by the Iniet society has been documented to the nineteenth century. Its geographical distribution includes the Tolai areas of the Gazelle Peninsula, the Duke of York and Mioko Islands, and southern New Ireland.

Here the human figure has upraised arms with hands showing the palms. This gesture is frequently found in varieties of carved or painted Iniet spirits, notably the power spirit entities carved on the dance wands held by young initiates. The composite human/animal forms on the wands are probably representations of personal power spirits.

From George A. Corbin, “East New Britain” in Arts of the South Seas, Island Southeast Asia, Melanesia, Polynesia, Micronesia, The Collections of the Musée Barbier-Mueller, 1998, pp. 256-267.

L’article A statuette of the Gazelle Peninsula est apparu en premier sur Barbier-Mueller Museum.

L’article A Celtic head est apparu en premier sur Barbier-Mueller Museum.

L’article An anthropomorphic stela est apparu en premier sur Barbier-Mueller Museum.

Symbols of prosperity, genuine or dummy coins have been frequently incorporated into necklaces and head adornments by many populations of the Arab-Muslim world. Once melted in a crucible with damaged or discarded jewelry, they were also used as a raw material. The large central pearl, tagmout, suggesting fertility, embellishes some necklaces and fibulas linked by a chain. The expensive amber is fossil resin from the Baltic Sea.

From a notice by A. Vanderstraete in Monnaies-objets d’échange, Afrique, Asie, Océanie, Genève, 2016.

To learn more about jewellery from Southern Morocco, download the article by Ivo Grammet published in Arts & Cultures 2011.

L’article A Berber necklace est apparu en premier sur Barbier-Mueller Museum.

The Greek style known as « geometric » thus gave us many horses, sometimes perched on a rectangular base, sometimes without a pedestal, and sometimes used as ornaments for an object or piece of furniture.

Here, it was a question of decorating a large cauldron on a stand, whose handles in the shape of circles were surmounted by bronze horses. They were fixed with rivets.

To learn more about this object, please download the catalogue entry by Alain Pasquier published in Le profane et le divin, arts de l’Antiquité. Fleurons du musée Barbier-Mueller.

L’article A bronze horse est apparu en premier sur Barbier-Mueller Museum.

To learn more about this artefact, please download the article by Christian Kaufmann “Containers for Food and More: Bowls from the Admiralty Islands” published in Arts & Cultures 2013, pp. 194-215.

L’article A wooden bowl from the Admiralty Islands est apparu en premier sur Barbier-Mueller Museum.

L’article Golden pectoral “marangga” est apparu en premier sur Barbier-Mueller Museum.