Akerman Kim John Stanton (1 results)

Stiff Wraps. 1st Edition. 1st ed., octavo, stiff pictorial wraps, colour illus, b&w illus, maps, pp 73. Near fine condition. Alternative title: "Riji and jakoli". Exceptionally rare. Richly illustrated monograph, including 50 colour plates showing pearl-shell art and cultural artefacts. Detailed study of the uses of pearl shell in Aboriginal culture: sources of shell, material types, manufacturing and engraving tools and techniques; function - personal adornment, magic and sorcery, ritual; use in exchange - distribution modes and exchange routes; description and meaning of motifs - geometric (meander, zigzag, interlocking key) and figurative (traditional and nontraditional); historical developments in the 20th century; utensils - shell; portable art; arts - change; arts - crafts; arts - techniques; ornaments; ritual objects - other; trade and gift exchange. Records that Freycinet in 1818 at Shark Bay, Western Australia, noted "an old man painted with stripes of various colours and distinguished from the rest by a shell hanging from his girdle".…