LORRKON

Important Aboriginal Works of Art
Melbourne
25 May 2016
149

TERRY NGAMANDARA

born 1950
LORRKON

ochre pigments and PVC fixative on stringybark (Eucalyptus Tetrodonta) hollow log

118.5.0 cm height

Estimate: 
$2,000 – 3,000
Sold for $1,220 (inc. BP) in Auction 43 - 25 May 2016, Melbourne
Provenance

Maningrida Arts and Culture, Northern Territory
Private collection, Sydney

Catalogue text

This work is accompanied by a certificate from Maningrida Arts & Culture which states: ‘The Lorrkon or bone pole coffin ceremony was the final ceremony in a sequence of mortuary rituals celebrated by the people of the Arnhem Land. This ceremony involves the placing of the deceased’s bones into a hollow log which was decorated with painted clan designs and ceremonially placed into the ground where it remained until it slowly decayed over many years. The log is made from a termite hollowed stringybark tree (Eucalyptus tetradonta) and is decorated with totemic emblems.’