staff
Catalog Number
2004.58.53Description
Carved wooden staff with alternating sections painted brown or dull black. Top fifth is black with a rounded knob, below this is a natural brown carving of two snakes with inset mother-of-pearl eyes. Midway is a pointy-nosed human with squared, flat ears and large, mother-of-pearl eyes and mouth. Next are two black snakes with shining mother-of-pearl eyes. Finally the staff widens then tapers down to a symmetrical point.History
David Ver Lee participated in a Harvard medical study of natives in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands between 1966 and 1972. The group studied the diseases of the pre-industrialized native cultures and compared them to the diseases common to industrial cultures. While there, Dr. Ver Lee collected dozens of pieces of native artwork that he usually acquired through bartering with a maker or owner. As Dr Ver Lee says, “There were no gift shops on the islands we visited in the 1960’s.”The Ver Lee artifacts are wonderful additions to the Holland Museum’s Pacific Islands collection. The western half of the island of New Guinea is part of the former Dutch Colony of Indonesia, and the Museum has had artifacts from New Guinea in its collection since the 1940s. Many of the Ver Lee objects come from the Sepik River area of Papua New Guinea, the independent country that encompasses the eastern half of the island. The Ver Lee objects allow us to represent more fully the rich native cultures of this remote island that has local connections.