Papua New Guinean Feast / Serving Bowl

A dark, glossy canoe-shaped bowl with white-filled carving along its flanks

This feast / serving bowl is from Tami Islands, Papua New Guinea, and dates to the 20th century. It is carved wood & applied pigment. Motifs on Tami bowls often show crocodiles, snakes or lizards, believed to manifest powerful spirits, flanking a central stylized figure with outstretched arms, low head and slightly bent knees. A long oval vessel with pointed ends and a dark, almost black polished surface. Pale lime-filled carved patterns of curving lines and small figures run along the side, with touches of red. The rim is thin. It is 37.3 inches wide, 17.5 deep and 5.75 high.

Black as night, with the carving lit up in chalk.