kava bowl (bowl (narcotics & intoxicants: drinking))

Description:

Kava Bowl, Tanoa, Fiji, Western Polynesia. Extremely large wooden bowls for the communal drinking of yaqona (kava) are among the most significant pieces of wood sculpture produced in Western Polynesia. Kava, the powdered root of the pepper plant (Piper methysticum) is a non-addictive, mild stimulant made up with cold water as an infusion and suspension, which is drunk throughout the Pacific. For men in particular, it forms a central focus of social life in Western Polynesia. Kava-drinking originally had a religious function in Fiji, where traditional priests (bete) drank it to enter possession trances. In neighbouring Tonga, however, it was an important part of chiefly coronations, and also drunk socially. When Tongan culture began to strongly influence Fijian culture in the later 18th Century, social kava drinking was one of their main gifts to the Fijians. This bowl follows the classic style of tanoa shared between Fiji and Tonga: it is four-footed with a smooth and sinuous curve inside and out. It is cut from a single block of hard, heavy, red vesi wood (Intsia bijuga) and, at 62 cm in diameter, can only have come from a substantial, mature specimen. This bowl comes complete with a large watabu chain-rope of plaited coconut fibre cord attached to its suspension lug (taunga), bearing ten large, fine egg cowrie shells (buli, Ovula ovum). This watabu was laid out in the Tongan style during formal drinking, and indicated both the highest-ranking person present, and the axis of the kava circle. Hardwood, coconut fibre, shell. Probably Mid-19th Century. Formerly in the private collection of Mrs Elaine Davies. Four-legged kava bowl, vesi (Intsia bijuga) wood with sinnet rope, and ten large Egg cowrie shells attached, two of which are broken.

Format:

image

Collections:

Horniman Museum and Gardens

Content partner:

Horniman Museum and Gardens

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