Boat ornament

A boat ornament, a so-called canoe prow ornament, which is attached to both ends of an outrigger canoe. Size and design indicate the owner and the provenance of the boat. There are distinctive spiral ornaments typical of the Admiralty Islands on this and two further objects in the collection. This item, as well as other objects in the Oceania collection, were collected by Wilhelm Lebahn, captain of the Imperial Navy survey ship »S.M.S. Planet«, on which the ethnologist, anthropologist and marine doctor Augustin Krämer was also travelling. The Lebahn collection was sold after his death by his brother-in-law Dr. Rudolf Plähn from Waldkirch.