A Friction Drum

NEW IRELAND, PAPUA NEW GUINEA  
carved hardwood  
LENGTH: 30CM  

Provenance:  
Collected by George Wilkinson, Deputy District Officer, Kaewing, New Ireland 1919-1920; thence by descent 
Private collection

Cf. Richard Parkinson, Thirty Years in the South Seas, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999, that reads: 'To use it, the native holds the instrument between his knees and strokes across the convex side of the wood with the flat of both hands, which have previously been lightly rubbed with the resin of the breadfruit tree. The tone arising, or more accurately the three tones arising, bear a great similarity to the bray of a donkey. This characteristic instrument is called ""nunut"" (also spelt lunat) by the natives, and the tone that it produces is regarded by the uninitiated as spirit voices' (p.126).
 
This lot is sold with accompanying notes and signed letter from the descendant