£625
African & Oceanic Art and Antiquities | 576
Auction: 15 October 2019 at 16:00 BST
carved wood, with crescent handle and long shaft with a prominent mid-rib leading to a slender paddle with long projection at the base
Provenance:
Collected in situ by Cecelia (ne Johnson) and Timothy Smith c. 1866 - 1869 whilst charting the upper reaches of the Peruvian Amazon on behalf of the government. Thence by descent.
Smith was born in South America, the son of a British engineer to whom the Peruvian government had employed to survey a southern province in the 1830's. He held a commision in the Peruvian army and was employed along with his wife Cecelia to explore the remote reaches of the jungle on the eastern border with Brazil. The couple later settled in Iquitos and were prominent citizens. The city of Leticia, now on the Peruvian-Colombian border, was named in Cecelia's honour.