Oil Dish, Fiji
Lot Closed
April 8, 04:03 PM GMT
Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Oil Dish
Fiji
sedre ni waiwai
Length: 16 ¾ in (40.6 cm)
The underside inscribed in black ink: "Cannibal tribe Tasmania about 1700 AD - 35 00"
Anthony Slayter-Ralph, London
Abraham Rosman and Paula Rubel, New York, acquired from the above on March 21, 1985
Abraham Rosman and Paula Rubel, New York, acquired from the above on March 21, 1985
This leaf-shaped dish, or sedre ni waiwai, was used to hold the scented oil with which a Fijian priest, or bete, would anoint himself before invoking his god.
The dish's inner surface retains the dull sheen left by the oil, whilst elsewhere the patina is dark, rich, and encrusted, suggesting that it was long exposed to the oily smoke of the bure kalou, or spirit house.
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