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Handcarved Buffalo Horn Hair Comb Timor, Indonesia

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:100.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 600.00 USD
Handcarved Buffalo Horn Hair Comb Timor, Indonesia
Offered in this lot is a Rare Five-Pronged Handcarved Buffalo Horn Hair Comb, circa early 1900s, Timor Island, Indonesia. Provenance: the Owen D. Mort, Jr. Collection. Owen David Mort was an American engineer who amassed an impressive collection throughout his worldwide travels. His collection has included art, artifacts and other historical items from which he has donated to museums at the University of Utah and Snite Museum of Art, the University of Notre Dame, including African, Afghan and Asian artifacts. Combs are an important aspect of headdress all over the world. As sculpture, they are signifiers of ethnicity, class, battle prowess, marriage status, and other social and religious cues. Great care is taken in their creation. This comb features motifs of geometric repeats that may represent ancestral genealogies. The custom of wearing a comb is one of the earliest and most widespread of all human endeavors, a truly universal cultural expression. Notable for its large size, this hair comb has multiple varied turned individual tines, each tine is unique in design. Hair comb is in nice condition, rich patina observed throughout. Measures 3.5"W at tine tips, 1.5"W at heel/handle, 8.5"L.