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1909.30.87

Kava bowl of wood, not quite circular, with four feet. [El.B 31/10/2011]

1909.30.87

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Collection type
Object
Description
Kava bowl of wood, not quite circular, with four feet. [El.B 31/10/2011]
Geographical reference
Fiji
Oceania > Melanesia > Fiji
Person
Field collector John Fiot Lee Pearse Maclear
Field collector HMS Challenger
PRM source Julia Maclear
Date / Period
Date made: Before 11/08/1874
Date collected
25 July to 11 August 1874
Acquisition information
Donated: 1909
Materials and processes
Material Wood Plant, Process Carved, Process Perforated
Dimensions
Diameter: max 302 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1909.30.87
Research and responses

Examined on the 12th/13th June by Fergus Clunie and Andy Mills as part of the work of the AHRC-funded project 'Fijian Art: Political Power, Sacred Value, Social Transformation and Collecting Since the 18th Century' (2011-2014). His notes read: Tanoa - small, old specimen. Vesi wood. [FB 18/06/2012]

Associated publications
Featured in colour on page 223 of 'Fiji - Art and Life in the Pacific' by Steven Hooper, UEA 2016 wuth the caption '186 TANOA (YAQONA BOWL). Fiji, Early to mid-19th century Wood L.30.2 cm Oxford, PRM: 1909.30.87. Acquired 1909; collected by Commander John Maclear, HMS Challenger, July - August 1874 This small bowl has a remarkable rich, dark patina similar to that on other valued items, including clubs and forks, which had been kept for a long time in houses or temples lit by smoky oil lamps. The patina on the underside is particularly deep and glossy, suggesting that it had been deliberately polished. Yaqona will not have been mixed in dari of this kind, but poured in from a filter pot like no. 178. [FB 8/11/2016] For an account of kava bowls from Western Polynesia, including references to examples in the PRM collections, see 'Kava Bowls from Western Polynesia: A Comparative Study of Bowls from Fiji, Samoa and Tonga' by Valentin Boissonnas (Norwich: University of East Anglia (Sainsbury Research Unit), MA dissertation, 2012). (Copy in RDF: Researchers: Boissonnas.) This object is referred to (with 1901.7.2, 1909.30.85, 1909.30.86, 1909.30.88, 1909.30.89) on page 17. Boissonnas writes: 'In 1874 the Challenger Expedition (187276) arrived in Fiji and Tonga where the members collected botanical, zoological and geological specimens. Yaqona bowls were purchased near Nakello on the Rewa River. Five yaqona bowls in the PRM [1909.30.85, 1909.30.86, 1909.30.87, 1909.30.88, 1909.30.89] are attributed to John MacLear, the Commander of the Challenger, another one [1901.7.2] to Henry Nottidge Moseley, the naturalist of the expedition.' The bowl is also listed under 'John Maclead [sic]' in 'Table 2. A list of collectors that were identified to have contributed more than one bowl to the collections of the BM, UCMAA and the PRM. Ibūbūrau dishes are not included in this list' on page 51. [JC 29 6 2013; JC 3 7 2013]

Search terms: Vessel, Narcotic, Bowl, Kava Accessory