Feast Bowl (Kelemui [?])

Unknown

late 19th–early 20th century · Wood · Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

The huge feast bowls of the Admiralty Islands off the north coast of New Guinea are among the most impressive ritual vessels in Oceania. Widely used in the archipelago, they are thought to have been created by the Matankol people of Lou Island, both for local use and for exchange with neighboring groups. The enormous bowls formerly were used to display and serve large quantities of food during ceremonial feasts. The body was carved from a single block of wood, but the handles often were made separately. At times, the handles include stylized human or animal imagery, and the spiral forms seen here have been interpreted variously as representations of pig’s tusks, snail shells, or the curling tails of reptiles or cuscus (a local marsupial).

Artist

Unknown

Date

late 19th–early 20th century

Medium

Wood

Culture

Matankol

Department

Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas

Credit line

The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979