Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Young man drinking



A handsome native boy, whose features are enhanced by the sideways rays of the early morning sun. The top right hand corner reads The paperbark cup, Arnhem Land.
Do my local readers know where this can be found?

The Melaleuca, also called paperbark is a remarkable tree. Its bark that peals off like parchemin provided Aborigines with roofing materials, blankets, ‘disposable’ raincoats, slings for babies, bowls and cups, and rings to cushion loads carried on the head. The aromatic leaves were bruised and placed in holes in the septum of the nose to clear stuffy heads.
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Un bien beau jeune homme, dont le corps est mis en relief par le soleil rasant du petit matin. En cursive dans le coin en haut à droite, on peut lire The paperbark cup, Arnhemland. Mes lecteurs locaux savent-ils où l'on peut voir ce bas-relief ?

Le melaleuca, aussi appelé paperbark (écorce de papier), est un arbre remarquable. Son écorce qui pèle comme du parchemin servait aux aborigènes à couvrir leurs huttes, à fabriquer des couvertures, des 'manteaux' jetables, des porte-bébés, des tasses, des bols et des coussins pour les charges portées sur la tête. Ses feuilles très aromatiques étaient écrasées et placées dans les narines pour soigner les symptômes du rhume.
nnn

18 comments:

Olivier said...

je dirais que l'on peut voir ce bas relief, dans un stade. le stade olympique ? Belle statue, il a la position d'un sumotori avant le combat


I would say that one can see this low relief, in a stage. the Olympic stage? Beautiful statue, it with the position of a sumotori before the combat

Jing said...

i like the light in this photo...some dark side, some bright side.
:))

jing
shanghai daily photo

Kate said...

"native boy"--is it more acceptable to use that term rather than aboriginie? Or is this a relief of a different kind of person?

hpy said...

When I saw the title, Young Man Drinking, I somehow expected to see a drunk young man, so it was a real pleasure to see this beautiful sculpture.

julia said...

Thanks for this, nice, but, location unknown. The trees: I've been taking shots of a small amazing avenue, grown very very large, in flower, some residents hate them. (Am aware of not overlapping your work - not that I'm any real alternative to you!!)

kuanyin333 said...

I use a special tooth product with tea tree oil in it, another name for melaluca....it's supposed to be very good for the teeth. Oh, great photo!

Pod said...

that's a nice image...i know not where tis?

Meg said...

Say, Nathalie, there's a tiny person trying to get out from the bottom pic!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful image. I like to hear about natural remedies.

Jilly said...

Beautiful relief and beautiful photograph.

Jilly x

Anonymous said...

I did a bit of research and found out that Arnhem Land is an Aboriginal reserve in the northern territories - famous also for bark painting which may have something to do with the subject. I'm sure this is all old hat to others, especilaly the aussies, but I was curious. It would be interesting to know the location, purpose and age of this sculpture. To me it looks very westernised (Graeco-Roman almost) although I'm not an expert

Maxime said...

C'est drôlement bien tout ça, mais en France, nous avons le chêne-liège, pour les bouchons !
Plaisanterie à part, on ne dira jamais assez tout ce que l'on doit aux arbres.

Anonymous said...

I can hardly draw a strait line and here is a great example of someone carving a master piece.

angela said...

Isn't this the origin of tea tree oil? I have a bottle in my cupboard as it's also a useful disinfectant against fungal infections like athlete's foot. What an amazingly useful tree.
I love the sculpture, such pure lines.
Angela

Lilly said...

a very intersting post.

Anonymous said...

Il me plaît cet homme, où est donc le modèle? :-) Merci de nous faire découvrir jour après jour votre coin de planète. c'est très enrichissant.

Nathalie H.D. said...

Olivier, ah ah, un gladiateur ?

Jing, you're right, the light is very important here

Kate, native or aborigine mean the same, and unfortunately in the mind of many white Australians, not associated with many positive images

HPY, bonne surprise alors ?

Julia, don't underestimate yourself, I enjoy what you do in Newcastle; Glad if you learn something here !

Kuanyin, you're right, the tea tree oil is a product of the melaleuca and it is said to have lots of wonderful properties, antiseptic in particular but not only

Abe, no, as far as I can ascertain, smoking is not part of the Aboriginal culture

Pod, if you work around Martin Place as Edwin told me, you're just two steps away. Go have a look, it's worth it

Richard, this would be early nineteenth century, but I found very little info about the building itself.

Maxime, excellente comparaison, l'écorce du melaleuca est aussi douce et élastique que le liège

Pastorrick, I feel the same

Angela, yes, you're absolutely right about tea tree oil

Delphinium, je vois que nous avons le même gout !

Marguerite said...

Magnifique cette photo d'écorce, même si tu as encore une fois été aidée par le soleil qui enjolive les reliefs...