Southeast Asia, Burma (Myanmar), ca. late 19th to early 20th century CE. A lovely brass tattoo needle with a figural finial of a Nat spirit on one end and a pointed, slit head at the other. The lengthy body is adorned in gold-colored foliate motif. Practiced by ethnic groups including the Baman, Shan and Karen, traditional tattooing comprises myriad designs that can address a number of concerns, investing the bearer with invulnerability against an arsenal of weapons, protection against evil spirits and disease, and a command over the affairs of the heart. Tattooing was a painful process, yet practitioners believed that the protracted and grueling ordeal served as a conduit for otherworldly and cabbalistic energies, which would enter the body of the bearer. For this reason, the front of the thighs was the favored site for tattoos. Banned under the British colonial regime, the practice of thigh-tattooing verges on vanishing, supplanted by faster and less painful electrical instruments that were introduced in the 1920s. Size: 1.3" W x 17" H (3.3 cm x 43.2 cm)

Provenance: private Bali, Indonesia collection

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#182998

Unscrews into 4 separate pieces. Light surface wear as shown. Otherwise, intact and excellent with rich patina throughout.