Pattern Marker with Hornbill Carving

As in any culture, Iban craftspeople regularly choose to decorate everyday utilitarian items for the sheer pleasure of creating and using something beautiful or whimsical, and this roller with the figure of a hornbill perched atop it seems to be an example of that practice. Too blunt to be used for cutting and fitting easily in the hand, the metal rolling disk resembles nothing so much as an ordinary pattern-marker for making clothing, which is still a very widespread practice in Borneo despite the flood of cheap mass-produced clothes the area has experienced over the past few decades.

Wood, metal; 16 x 25cm.