Abstract
At first glance, auction and sale catalogues of ethnographic artefacts dating to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries appear to record merely the desires of colonial collectors. Our detailed study of changes in proveniences, types and prices shows how an archaeological approach to assemblages coupled with appropriate analytical strategies can uncover changing patterns of negotiation between indigenous makers and western consumers. We begin with a broad regional comparison of cross-cultural interaction as witnessed in the catalogues and then turn to a finer scale case study based on catalogue entries relating to the colony of British New Guinea, commonly called Papua. These analyses provide insights into how indigenous artefact producers and traders in the Pacific region made creative responses to market opportunities.
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Acknowledgements
Our research and participation at WAC6 was funded by the Australian Research Council, University of Sydney, and Australian Museum. We are very grateful to Leone Lemmer and her staff at the Australian Museum and the Anthropology Library, British Museum, for their support. Special thanks to Rebecca Fisher for historical research and our co-investigators Jude Philp and Erna Lilje for information, encouragement and critique.
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Torrence, R., Clarke, A. (2011). “Suitable for Decoration of Halls and Billiard Rooms”: Finding Indigenous Agency in Historic Auction and Sale Catalogues. In: Byrne, S., Clarke, A., Harrison, R., Torrence, R. (eds) Unpacking the Collection. One World Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8222-3_2
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