Antique Australian aboriginal carved emu egg no. 3 and an openwork base

and an openwork base

Unfortunately this is not intact as it is missing the dorsal processes as you can see in the photos

The Kuba King

Superb and unusual antique carved bone totem pole

Antique Australian aboriginal carved emu egg no. 3 and an openwork baseThis specimen probably dates from mid to late 19th Century. This is known as "Kalti Paarti", the practice of carving emu eggs. This art form has been continued to the present day. These early example usually have quite nave carvings compared to the later tourist items. With this example if you look closely you can see where the shell has been scraped away with a blade of some description and smoother areas where the pattern was smoothed, often using