Early Musical instruments of Oceania

Meyer Gallery Oceanic and Eskimo art

Thematic presentation Early Musical instruments

17 rue des Beaux-Arts Paris 75006 France Tel. + 33 1 43 54 85 74 www.meyeroceanic.art

Meyer Gallery Oceanic and eskimo art Member of many prestigious institutions, including the Syndicat National des Antiquaires, the European Chamber of Art Experts, and the André Breton scienti c committee, Galerie Meyer is particularly known for its exhibitions, as well as its participation in important international art fairs. A career that has given Anthony JP Meyer a powerful voice in the trade of Melanesian, Micronesian, Polynesian, Australian and, from 2010, Eskimo art objects.

The Galerie Meyer was founded by Oscar Meyer in the mid-1940s in France. In 1980, his son Anthony JP Meyer, joined the family antique store as a dealer and developed his specialization in tribal art, with a particular focus on Oceanic art.

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In 1986 the Meyer Gallery became entirely devoted to Oceanic art, promoting the trade in old traditional pieces and the production of detailed catalogs. Currently located at 17 rue des Beaux-Arts (in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés), in the building where André Derain, one of the main proponents of tribal art, lived, the gallery is reopening its doors to welcome you !

Through this, you can discover or rediscover the universe of Oceanic and Eskimo art according to your tastes and favorite themes. Your subjects can be speci c material such as seashells or ivory, utility objects such as spoons, dishes or coins, weapons of war and hunting, or even musical, ritual or shing instruments.

For the French music festival of 2021 we present to you a selection of very special early musical instruments!

Have you ever seen an engraved bamboo ute, a headhunter's trumpet or an Aboriginal rhombus?

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You now have the opportunity to discover them thanks to Galerie Meyer!

We invite you to come and see our current exhibitions which mix contemporary drawings and Oceanic sculptures with contemporary graphics, but also we invite you to order personalized tours !

An archaic musical instrument which is swung in circles producing a low tone humming sound which represents the voice of spirits from the Dream Time such as the Rainbow Serpent.

It was possibly recycled from a tjuringa.

Western Australia.

Wood 19th century 37,7 x 7,2 cm Pub : WALKABOUT, Parcours des Mondes 2012.

Catalogue Galerie Meyer, Paris N° 49 € 4,200

*Among the many versions that exist there is the one of the spirits of the ancestors who created the Earth and

withdrew as the Dream Time ended.

Aboriginal Bull-roarer (rhombus)

Asmat Horn A classic head-hunting horn used to announce the victorious return of the warriors with the heads.

The decoration is arranged in two superimposed friezes with geometric motifs representing stylized hands carved in champ-levée with a frieze of large Zigzag around the upper register. The mouthpiece is of phallic form.

Most Asmat war horns or trumpets are carved from large sections of bamboo. The Asmat of the South of the Safran region created and used large wooden horns before the period of the rst contacts with the West.

Asmat, Southern Safan Region, New Guinea, Melanesia.

Wood with a very good patina of usage and age.

19th/20th century.

66 x 12.4 x 12.4 cm

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€ 6,000

Tolai Flute A very ne ute with two sound holes placed at the lower end of the instrument. The decor is pyro-engraved and the motifs, while individually geometric, come together to form highly stylized ancestral faces.

Tolai People, New Britain, Bismarck Archipelago, PNG, Melanesia.

Bamboo.

19th/20th century.

56,3 x 2 Ø cm.

Collected by a missionary of the Sacred Heart Mission, Borgerhout, Belgium before 1920.

Ex coll. : Carl Lobell, acquired from Gal. Meyer.

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€ 4,200

Gong in small format for a single musician, played with wooden or bamboo sticks and placed either on the thighs or in front of the player. Used during ceremonies, dances and rituals.

The decor consists of a human gure carved in bas-relief along the entire length of the gong with the resonance slit placed in the center of the body.

Kiribati Islands (?), Micronesia Wood 19th/20th century 62,5 x 10,5 cm Pub : Meyer, Anthony JP : OCEANIC ART / OZEANISCHE KUNST / ART OCEANIEN. 1995 Könemann, köln, p 620, Fig. 715.

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€ 8,000

Kiribati Gong

Iatmul War-Horn (trumpet) This is a very rare type of horn that was most often used during headhunting raids and for battle.

The nial is carved as a superbly elongated human head with slanted eyes and a long trumpet-like nose with ne ared nostrils above a small smiling mouth. The rear of the head is attened and the suspension loop is carved to represent the scaly head of a mud sh.

A large ancestor face with a pointed chin is carved, up-side down, on the rear lower section of the horn. An incised stick gure with spindly arms is carved to the lower front side. The edge of the mouth of the horn is decorated with a scalloped band of carving.

Iatmul People, Sepik River, PNG, Melanesia.

Stone carved wood with pigments and a ne patina of age and wear.

19th century.

70.3 X 14.6 Ø cm.

Acquired in the Early 1990's from Michael Hamson.

Ref. : Kelm, H.: KUNST VOM SEPIK. Vol. I, II, III. Berlin, Museum für Volkerkunde. 1966.

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€ 25,000

CONTACT US FOR MORE INFORMATION

ANTHONY JP MEYER Antiquaire & expert

ajpmeyer@gmail.com

TEL + 33 6 80 10 80 22

Membre du Syndicat National des Antiquaires

Membre de la Chambre Européenne des Experts d’Art

Membre du Syndicat Français des Experts Professionnels en Œuvres d’Art et Objets de Collection

Comité scienti que André Breton

GISÈLE BERTIN

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Executive Director

Mob. + 33 7 88 97 56 50 / +33 6 48 76 37 70

gisele.meyeroceanic@gmail.com