Headrest, Fiji

Fenton and Sons, "The Old Curiosity Shop", London

General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers, Rushmore, Dorset, acquired from the above on May 8, 1895

Alexander Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers, Rushmore, Dorset, acquired by descent from the above in 1900

Captain George Pitt-Rivers, The Manor, Hinton St Mary, Dorset, acquired by descent from the above by 1927

Stella Edith Lonsdale (Pitt-Rivers), London and Garéoult, acquired by descent from the above by 1966

Private Collection, London

Sotheby's, New York, November 16, 2001, lot 244, consigned by the above

Acquired at the above auction

The Pitt-Rivers Museum, Farnham, Dorset, 1895 - circa 1965

General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt-Rivers, Catalogues of his Collections, 1882-1898, vol. 3, p. 1117

The form of the “pillow”, the legs, and the feet of this old headrest, or kali, are similar to those of a headrest in the Fiji Museum, Suva (inv. no. FM 80.198) that once belonged to Ritova (fl. 1850s-1870s), the Tui Macuata, or King of Macuata, who lived on the chiefly island of Macuataiwai, which lies off the coast of Vanua Levu (see Fergus Clunie, Yalo i Viti: A Fiji Museum Catalogue, Suva, 1986, p. 41, cat. no. 64). Two other headrests of related architectural form in the Blackburn collection are illustrated in Adrienne Kaeppler, Polynesia: The Mark and Carolyn Blackburn Collection of Polynesian Art, Honolulu, 2010, p. 230, cat. nos. 84-85.