ETHNOGRAPHIC ART AND ARTEFACTS
Wednesday, 27 March - Monday, 8 April 2024
An important early 19thC yagona dish from Western Vitilevu Fiji,
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Lot Details
carved from sacred vesi wood which was used for religious vessels. Pod shaped, shallow bowl and short handle projecting from the base of the bowl, good old patina showing yagona residue, 570 x 140 x 90mm, 19thC Ba, Fiji. Note: This type of dish was placed on the ground whilst the kneeling priest drank the liquid through a tube or straw to induce a trance. Provenance: This vessel belonged to the old cannibal high chief Ratu Vuniani Vuki who become Rokotui Ba and Yasawa soon after colonisation, he died in 1918. Mr Edmund Gibson Woolcott, a cane planter at Naikubu-kubu, Ba, secured the dish in 1912 in exchange for a heifer. It was in the family until sold at Cordy's, lot 171, 13th November 2001 achieving $7500.
