Featured Taiwan Indigenous Wood Statue

The attached tags make this a pretty easy identification. Are there any clues, though, as to when this would have been made?

I guess the People's Republic of China retreated to Taiwan in 1949. So is this piece after that?

Thanks for any help.



11" / 28cm tall

 

'carved by aborigine of Taiwan, BF-65', -no other marks,symbols-light pencil,etc ? Well done and as a hand sculpted piece it should definitely be signed somewhere.

 

Yeah thanks-- no other marks or signatures that I see...

 

Very nice statue, Pottery. And a drummer/singer, very important in Taiwanese indigenous ceremonies.

It says Republic of China. It could have been made just after the administration of the islands was given to the Republic of China in 1945. During the same year the ROC declared Taiwan a province of the ROC.

In 1949 the Republic of China became communist and was renamed the People's Republic of China. As a result the sole party and government of the former ROC, the Kuomintang, retreated to Taiwan.

So I think your statue was carved between 1945 and 1949.

I wonder if BF-65 was the carver of your statue. It was a period of tight control, maybe indigenous artists had to register to be able to sell.

 

You're wonderful AJ! That's just the sort of deduction I was hoping was possible, but I didn't think it would lead to such a very specific window. Thank you for the help!

 

It has been a pleasure, as always.

 

While I am reluctant to disagree with Any Jewelry, according to things I am reading the official name of the government in Taiwan is still the Republic of China (ROC).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiwan

Here are some more recent labels from other objects -

1970-1979:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/375579463920

1986:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1299683723/set-of-three-arnart-buddha-statuettes

 

Thank you, I should have checked.
Sorry about that, Pottery.

 

Control of Taiwan/Formosa was ceded to Japan in 1895, with China (as the Republic of China) regaining ownership after WWII. So, based on the general style of the label and the use of "Republic of China", I think you would be safe in dating the carving within the first 10-15 years after 1945.

 

Never!

Thank you for the corroboration and clarification!