Fiji Pottery Water Vessel

A very fine and early pottery water vessel, or Saqa Tabua in the form of the sacred spermwhale tooth, the tabua. This form of water bottle is made from qele (clay) with a looped Wa ni Tabua (handle). The outer surface coated with makadre (resin from the Dakua tree) just after baking which produces the glossy glaze. One orifice and an i gaga (pouring spout). Somuna (decorative spots of applied qele) decorate the handle and across the top and waist of the container. Incisions decorate the upper areas of the container.

Fiji islands, Western Polynesia.
Low fired clay and vegetal resin.
16,3 cm.
19th century.



 

Provenance Provenance :
Reportedly the collection of Harry G. Beasley (1882-1939), Cranemore, UK, 1897, N° 553. Bears an unverified paper label with cut corners indicating in handwritting : « ----ly Collection, 553, --jin Islands, -- pottery bottle, --- ALP : 114, 9-1-97 ».

Literature: See similar examples in the Fiji Museum, Suva, the Smithsonian Institute, The Peabody Museum, Harvard, The Museum of Anthropologiy and Archeology, Cambridge, Musée d'Ethnographie, Geneva, and the Auckland War Memorial Museum.