Kanak Water Bottle

Calabash,or water bottle, made of a dried gourd with a somital opening. The gourd is contained in a network of 7 twisted strands of coconut fiber arranged to form a containment and protective reinforcement of the gourds shell. The organization of the fiber network is unusual as it is not organized to form the habitual diamond or triangular supports. The thick coconut fibre handle is complete, independent of the fiber network, and is fashinoned with a technic of complex knotting.

Kanak, New Caledonia.
 Vegetable gourd (Cucurbitaceae) and coconut fiber.
19/20th century.
23 cm.

Provenance Provenence: Collected and brought back by the grandfather (unidentified for the moment) of the current owner, a military doctor stationed in the New Hebrides at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Lot n°222 of the auction IVOIRE, Alexeï BLANCHY & Eric LACOMBE Commissaires-Priseurs Associés, Bordeaux on 6/11/2020.

Literature: See here :

The native women drinking water on Uvea in the Loyalty Islands, were sketched by Commander (later Admiral) Richard Aldworth Oliver in 1849 on HMS Havanna’s voyage commanded by Commodore John Elphinstone Erskine (1806 87), patron of the distinctive beachcomber, Cannibal Jack' Diaper. It is illustrated here how the Kanak bleached their hair with lime like the inhabitants of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.

and

Album of old photographs (black and white silver prints) presenting individual and group portraits of men and women of the New Hebrides (Vanuatu) in their environment, one showing a rare anthropomorphic wooden sculpture. Approximately 23 photos. Written mention indicating 1917 -1918. Album made by the grandfather of the current owner, a military doctor stationed in the New Hebrides (Editor's note: he appears in the photographs with his camera). From Lots 217 - 223 of the sale IVOIRE, Alexeï BLANCHY & Eric LACOMBE Commissaires-Priseurs Associés, Bordeaux on 6/11/2020.