Model Outrigger Canoe

Skip to main content
Model Outrigger Canoe
Model Outrigger Canoe
Datebefore 1944
MediumWood, twine, and paint
DimensionsOverall: 6 1/2 × 21 × 18 in. (16.5 × 53.3 × 45.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of Ernest H. Williams, Jr., Professor of Biology Emeritus
Object number2022.11.1
On view
DescriptionThis Model Outrigger Canoe was constructed using wood, twine, and paint. It is hand-carved, with various eye-like symbols painted along its hull. This type of single outrigger canoe is known as a wa, which is a traditional form of canoe used along the coast of New Guinea. According to the Hudson Museum at the University of Maine, model outrigger canoes were a common trade object produced by local people for foreign visitors to collect on their travels. This particular model was acquired by the donor’s father, along with a Carved Lizard (2022.11.2), which is also held in the Wellin’s collection, and various other objects, while he was serving in the US Navy during World War II. We know that the donor’s father bartered with people from a local village to acquire these objects while he was stationed in New Guinea on September 28, 1944, because he related the news of his purchases to his wife in the US in a letter written on that date. Objects like this demonstrate how local people in places like New Guinea created objects for a market of military personnel who were looking to purchase souvenirs of their time away from home during World War II .
Collections

Additional Details

Alternate Titles New Guinea Model Outrigger Canoe
Provenance 2022: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art) by transfer from Ernest H. Williams, Jr., Professor of Biology Emeritus;
? 1950s or 1960s: Ernest H. Williams, Jr., by gift from Ernest H. Williams;
1944: Ernest H. Williams by barter from an unknown maker, New Guinea
Carved Lizard
Carved Lizard
Date: before 1944
Medium: Wood and paint
Object number: 2022.11.2
© Ibrahim Said. Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, …
Floating Vase 6
Ibrahim Said
Date: 2021
Medium: White Earthenware
Object number: 2021.11
Photograph by John Bentham.
Stirrup jar
Unknown artist
Date: c. 1300-1100 BCE
Medium: Terracotta
Object number: 2015.6.6
Photograph by John Bentham.
Black-on-red ware amphora (storage jar)
Unknown artist
Date: c. 750-600 BCE
Medium: Terracotta
Object number: 2015.6.2
Photograph by John Bentham.
Ribbed jar
Unknown artist
Date: c. 3rd century CE
Medium: Blown glass
Object number: 2015.6.27
Photograph by John Bentham.
Bottle
Unknown artist
Date: c. 4th-5th century CE
Medium: Blown glass with trailing
Object number: 2015.6.30
Photograph by John Bentham.
Oil lamp with raised geometric pattern
Unknown artist
Date: c. 6th-8th century CE
Medium: Terracotta
Object number: 2015.6.49
Untitled, from the series "Zwarte Piet"
Untitled, from the series "Zwarte Piet"
Anna Fox
Date: 1997, printed 2000
Medium: Chromogenic print
Object number: 2009.3
© Dickinson Estate. Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton Colle…
Artist's Hand Holding Children's Drawings
Edwin W. Dickinson
Date: February - March 1940
Medium: Oil on canvas
Object number: 2016.8.1
Photograph by David Revette.
Owl effigy jar
Unknown artist
Date: c. 1875-1900
Medium: Terracotta with paint
Object number: 1984.530
with frame. Photograph by John Bentham.
Blast Furnace
Edmund Lewandowski
Date: 1946
Medium: Oil on Masonite
Object number: 1963.2
Image courtesy of the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Pho…
Pilgrim flask depicting Saint Menas
Unknown artist
Date: c. 610-650 CE
Medium: Terracotta
Object number: 2015.6.5