Yangoru Boiken Talipun Bride Price-New Guinea Art-Bruce Lawes Collection
Here is a fine example of a taro type of Yangoru Boiken talipun bride price. The oddly shaped cane section is shaped roughly like a tuber and thus the taro moniker. At the top is the requisite wooden bird head that would help demark the clan designation. The relatively thick, heavy and unworked green turban seashell makes this example a male “humbuli.” This is one of the earliest known published examples of Yangoru Boiken talipun. It was collected by the Australian field collector Bruce Lawes in 1970 and illustrated in the exhibition catalog of his collection in 1977/78. The piece dates to the early 20th century, is 17” (43.2 cm) as mounted.