Headrest, Tonga

In Tonga, the head was the most tapu, or sacred part of the body, and in sleep it was appropriate to rest one’s head on a carefully made headrest, or kali. There are several forms of kali, all of which demonstrate the elegance and economy of form characteristic of Tongan sculpture. This graceful headrest is of the kali laloni type, which was “used mainly by Tongan chiefs.” (St Cartmail, The Art of Tonga: Ko e ngaahi ‘aati ‘o Tonga, Honolulu, 1997, p. 54).

The legs, which end in the square feet characteristic of most kali laloni, are carved separately from the curved pillow. The different parts of the headrest are artfully joined; two triangular wedges carved on the underside of the pillow slot neatly into “v” shaped cuts at the top of each pair of legs. The different parts are then secured with fiber cords, or kafa, which are visible only on the underside of the object, as the simple elegance of the headrest's form is matched by that of its construction.