David thank you for your encouraging words, perhaps tourist may have been a bit harsh and hasty. "Tribal" for want of a better word, culture, art production and materials are not preserved in aspic. However there could be a fine line between "folk art" and "Tourist". Looking again at the copper base to the staff and how carefully it has been set into the wood I might be prepared to think there is pride in the manufacture. The plastic eyes may have been thought as rather cool by the maker. The ? mark looks like a stain and quite lightly applied. The actual wood is a natual twisty root or vine strong but bendy. There is minimal shaping to the twist. Perhaps "fern" might suggest possible names and origin. The wood is pale in colour the dark colour you see in the pictures is from a lacquer. I cannot tell if it is a natural one or industrially produced. I can say that for the money it is starting to grow on me. I have a large Thai darb knife put together with salvaged aluminium and chewing gum or an epoxy resin. Just because you are poor in the 20th century does not mean artists stop making artifacts for cultural use? Anyway here are some more pictures. I could still think it not Indian?
|