Oceania, Central Australia, Arrernte indigenous groups, ca. mid-20th century CE. An impressive and sacred wooden object known as a tjurunga (sometimes churinga) hand-carved in the form of a towering, elongated ovoid adorned with an incised zigzagging motif on one side and horizontal and vertical linear designs on the other. The tjurunga is one of a class of objects considered to have religious power by several Aboriginal groups, used in various ceremonies, their ownership and handling limited to specific members of a kinship group. The linear incisions might refer to any number of beings, myths, fabulous beings of the Dreamtime, parts of the heavens or the landscape, plants, and animals and their tracks. Because any of these motifs can be used to represent many different things, the meaning of a single "tjurunga" is impossible to interpret without information from its owner. Size: 3.3" W x 39.7" H (8.4 cm x 100.8 cm); 41.5" H (105.4 cm) on included custom stand.

Provenance: private Newport Beach, California, USA collection

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.

#135703

Some nicks, chips and abrasions to surface and peripheries as well as a few natural indentations and fissures to wood. Otherwise, intact and excellent with good preservation of decorative program.