Pig Stick, Tun-Tun Babi
Iban people, Dayak, Borneo
19th/early 20th century
Wood, pigment
H: 20.5 in :: 52.07 cm
A carved variant of a tun-tun babi or “pig stick” that was technically used as a trigger for a sophisticated trap by the Iban Dayak of Sarawak, north Borneo. On a magical level the hunkered figure would “call” or lure prey. On a practical level, cloth imbued with the scent of foods tucked into the figure’s body (now lost) would attract the animal’s attention. Such traps were outlawed as being too dangerous by Raja Charles Brooke, the ruler of Sarawak in the 1880’s, and with the further adoption of firearms became obsolete.
Inventory # 102667
SOLD