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Bowl

1800s
painted wood
Overall: 9.9 x 40.3 x 17.4 cm (3 7/8 x 15 7/8 x 6 7/8 in.)
The Mary Spedding Milliken Memorial Collection, Gift of William Mathewson Milliken 1965.322
Location: not on view
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Description

The people of the Tami Islands manufactured canoes, house beams, drums, bowls, lime spatulas, and neckrests using tools such as stone axes, bamboo knives, tree-bear teeth, and pig, cassowary, and dog bones. Tami bowls were carved from the hard wood of the azalea and decorated with patterns that vary from deep etching to high relief. Many bowls were blackened with a graphite compound and highly polished. Decorative patterns were owned by specific families, and could not be used by other carvers.
Bowl

Bowl

1800s

Melanesia, Papua New Guinea, Huon Gulf, Tami Islands, 19th century

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