An exceptional ceremonial bowl from the Solomon Islands arch - Lot 29

An exceptional ceremonial bowl from the Solomon Islands archipelago Southeast of San Cristobal or neighboring islands Wood with original black patina, cornus sp. shell inlays H. 52 cm - L. 334 cm - W. 49 cm Provenance : - The collection of Morton David May between 1967 and 1975 - The Saint-Louis Art Museum (inv. 196/1975) - Private collection, Paris Bibliography : - D. Waite, Art des Iles Salomon , Musée Barbier Muller, Geneva, 1983. - Hugo Bernatzik, South Seas, 5 Continents Edition, Milan, 2002. - L'aristocrate et ses cannibales Le voyage en Océanie du comte Festetics de Tolna, 1893-1896, Musée du quai Branly, Acte Sud, 2007. Preciously kept in the sacred canoe house or aofa, ceremonial cups were used for ritual offerings dedicated to tutelary spirits or for banquets to consume taro purée. Our example is adorned at each end with the head of a bonito, a variety of tuna that travels in large schools to hunt and feed on smaller fish. The return of this seasonal migration was considered a divine gift, signaled by the frigatebirds and other fishing birds depicted on its sides. The bowl in the May collection therefore celebrates this vital and spiritual event in the lives of the indigenous population. In the early 1930s, ethnologist and photographer Hugo Bernatzik succeeded in photographing a similar, albeit smaller, bowl at Owa Raha on Santa Anna Island. Indeed, it seems highly likely that this is the largest known ceremonial bowl from this part of the world, a kind of paragon the size of a small pirogue.