Ref : PA1018

This exquisite wooden bucket was previously owned by a tribal art collector who acquired it in the 1970s in the Los Angeles area. It remained overseas for nearly a half century before being returned to the island. Decoration of household items was common among the Paiwan nobility. With its elaborate design, this heavily carved bucket is a rarity. Smaller versions of the design can be found in the drinking cups that inspired the Taiwanese anthropologist Chen Chi-lu to make two reproductions, which are drawn in his reference work, Material Culture of the Formosan Aborigines (pp. 127 and 140, fig. 41E and 44D in the 1968 edition). This 60 cm-tall bucket is no mere drinking cup, however. It is a prime example of what Chen Chi-lu describes as the principle of skeuomorphs (p. 130), or the reproduction of a characteristic form in a new medium and on a new scale.

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