Fiji Priestly Sedre ni Waiwai Oil Dish Ex Bulmer coll.

A superb and very rare form of sacred priestly oil-dish or sedre ni waiwai. This example is of the rare crescent format also described as « delta wing ». It probably represents a stylized canoe or possibly a stylized open-winged bird. The sacred perfumed coconut oil, or waiwai was used to anoint the bodies of the chiefs and priests for ceremonial and devotional occasions. The dish sits on three short cylindrical feet, the front one incorporates a suspension loop. The cultural significance of the wood known as vesi is diverse and is embedded in many Fijian cultural expressions and beliefs. The tree itself was sacred among ancient Fijians, and its hardness and seemingly indestructible nature embodied admired human qualities. The tree was used as the main pole to hold up traditional temples and chiefly bures (traditional houses), to build the drua or waqa tabu (sacred canoe) reserved only for those of noble birth, and to make the traditional gong (lali) used to announce important events as well as for the manufacture of sacred containers and objects.

Fiji, Polynesia.
Vesi wood (Intsia bijuga) with a superb glossy patina and traces of wear and usage.
The remains of an old inscription on the underside between the feet.  
38 cm.
18th/19th century.



 

Provenance Provenance :
George Henry Bertram Bulmer (1902-1993) of "Little Breinton" house, Breinton, Hereford, UK, the director of Bulmer's Cider Co. and son of Edward (Fred) Bulmer. 
Ex London dealers Stothert & Trice.

George Henry (Bertram) Bulmer (1902-1993) was the eldest son of Edward Bulmer and Sophie Fredericka Rittner. He was a director of the Bulmer's Cider Co. for sixty-three years. There is no information on how, when, or why George Henry (Bertram) Bulmer owned this Fijian sacred oil or kava dish and one other. These were part of the entier contents of the « Little Breinton » house in Breinton, Hereford where Bulmer resided that was sold as « consigned from a residual house clearance from a property called " Little Breinton" Breinton, nr. Hereford. Offered at auction on Thursday 21st April, 2022, by RG & RB Williams Auctioneers at Ross Auction Centre, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire as « lots 320 a 19th c. wooden Polynesian ceremonial offering bowl and lot 321 early 20th c. or earlier Polynesian wooden bowl ».
 

Literature: See a very similar example in the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge: 1931.213, collected by Alfred Maudslay, 1875–80.

Ref. :
CYCLOPEDIA of FIJI 1907. Reprint by Fiji Museum, Suva, 1984, p. 286
Gordon Cumming, C. F. (Constance Frederica) : AT HOME IN FIJI 1837-1924. Armstrong & son New York, 1883, p. 206.