Female Drumstick, between 1875 and 1900

  • Delaware, Native American

Carved wood with pigment

  • Overall: 19 5/8 × 2 15/16 × 1 inches (49.8 × 7.5 × 2.5 cm)

Founders Society Purchase, Dabco/Frank American Indian Art Fund and Henry Ford II Fund

1983.28.2

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.

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)

Bulletin of the DIA: Annual Report (1984): p. 13 (fig. 11).

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.