About the Artwork
The pair of Drumsticks are carved with images that address the differences between male and female. Many Native American cultures recognize the complementary and yet different social roles of men and women in community life. This mutual dependency extends to religious ritual, as acknowledged by the male and female faces carved in the drumsticks used for the most sacred episodes of the Delaware Big House ceremony.
Female Drumstick
between 1875 and 1900
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Native american
Delaware
Carved wood with pigment
Overall: 19 5/8 × 2 15/16 × 1 inches (49.8 × 7.5 × 2.5 cm)
Sculpture
Indigenous Americas
Founders Society Purchase, Dabco/Frank American Indian Art Fund and Henry Ford II Fund
1983.28.2
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Markings
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Provenance
Frank Gouldsmith Speck (1881-1950), anthropologist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania
by descent through Speck family
1981, purchased by (Jonathan Holstein, New York, New York, USA)
1983-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Bulletin of the DIA: Annual Report (1984): p. 13 (fig. 11).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Delaware, Native American, Female Drumstick, between 1875 and 1900, carved wood with pigment. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Dabco/Frank American Indian Art Fund and Henry Ford II Fund, 1983.28.2.
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