The Dayak baby carriers are made of wood, in which the mother carries her sitting baby on her back. The exterior sides of this baby carrier are always decorated with protective images. Either carved directly in the wood and inlaid with shells (as with the Bahau Dayak), with protective dragon motifs in colourful glass pearl embroidery (as with the Kayan Kenyah Dayak), or as with the present piece, with protective figures made of sewn Nassa shells and glass pearls. The present item displays a very old form of baby carrier decoration with a protective function. It originates from the Kenyah Dayak in East Borneo: The background is made of a piece of bark bast on which two seated protective spirits are sewn in numerous rows of small Nassa shells. These protect the baby while it sits in its carrier. Both protective spirits are framed with Nassa shells and four polished turbo shell discs and accentuated with old, small, colourful glass pearls. An interesting, old piece, mounted behind glass in a modern box frame. About 1900 to the first third of the 20th century; dimensions: 46 cm x 35 cm (the object), 60 cm x 48 cm (frame). (ME)

Provenance: Collection of Prof. Rudolf Leopold, Vienna.

Literature: ‘Beyond the Java Sea’ by Paul Michael Taylor and Lorraine V. Aragon, p. 156, ill. fig. V.13.