This item is a very fine and large stringybark painting that was purchased from the William Fagan Arms & Armour company in the early 1980s. The purchase included 3 bark paintings and a didjeridoo, all marked as painted by the same Aboriginal artist in the 1960s. Only the smallest bark paintings had provenance which said that it had been painted by an artist namd Mawalah of the Rirratjigu tribe, Dbuva moiety, in Yirrkala in 1964. This bark painting is the largest of the three bark paintings and it does not have the provenance on the reverse side. This bark depicts a rainbow serpent guarding a clutch of eggs from a rather large goanna lizard. There are several additional animals shown on the bark. The background is covered with very fine cross hatching in traditional ochre colors. This bark has curvature such that if it lays on it's face, one end is raised 11 cm and the other end is raised 7 cm. There are a couple of long, but very shallow axial split lines on the inside (painted) surface of the bark as is commonly found on large older barks as a result of moisture loss. Because of it's size, it will be very expensive to ship this large bark painting, especially to international destinations.