An Impressive Santa Cruz Islands Feast Bowl...

Description

An Impressive Santa Cruz Islands Feast Bowl
Solomon Islands, c. late 19th to early 20th century

Only three of these are known, one in a museum in New Zealand, one in a museum in Australia, and this one. This large heavy bowl in shape of a female pig was made for feasts and were part of a chief's treasury. This one is carved from a dense hardwood and has a dark brown to black patina from extensive use. The corpulent body stands on four legs with human-like feet and toes. It has an elongated snout with grooves indicating its mouth and brows. On the underside are two rows of female nipples, indicating that this is a sow. A medial ridge runs from nose to brow and is pierced numerous times for the attachment of hair or some other fibers. A long pointed tail at the back. In very good condition, proper right ear tip missing, chips on tip of snout, proper front left leg broken off and glued back on, otherwise intact.

Provenance:
A Private Collection, New York, NY, acquired in 1997
Wayne Heathcote, London, UK
Field collected by Robert Malcom Smith, the manager of the Kauri Timber Company while stationed at Vanikoro in the southeastern region of the Solomon Islands in the 1920s.

Length: 29 ½ inches



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