Double peacock finial
Kondh people, Orissa, India
Cast copper alloy
12" (30.5 cm) high
Late 19th to early 20th century
Ex Barbara C. Johnson collection
This double peacock was the finial on a ritual staff likely involved with the meriah human sacrifice (see pg. 81 of Johnson article). The peacock is the bird associated with the sacrifice of purchased or kidnapped chidren and these effigies were situated atop and below a stake to which the children were tied. Published in Bronze Sculptures of the Kondh by Barbara C. Johnson, Tribal Art magazine, Summer 2005, pg. 85, fig. 17.
#4028
SOLD
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