Tami Island Wooden Bowl-New Guinea Art-Oceanic Tribal Art
There was a time in the mid 1990s that I spent a lot of time field collecting wooden bowls in the Huon Gulf region of Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. I focused on the remote villages well inland and up the slopes of the volcanic Umboi Island. Here the people had their old wooden bowls lying in the rafters, with smaller ones nested inside the larger dishes. After nearly collapsing a number of local bush-material houses by hoisting my body up into the rafters, I got quite adept at recognizing good old bowls. The present one was in a Phoenix, Arizona mansion, and its quality could be spotted from across the room. It is ancient with a gorgeous deep-black and glossy patina and raised relief-carved stylized crocodiles. It is hard to convey the pleasure of holding a beautifully carved wooden object that generations of wear and use have given a polished jewel-like surface. This was collected by Betty & Arthur Thomas in the late 1960s/early 1970s. It is ex. Sidney Rosen Collection, Phoenix, Arizona, dates to the 19th century and is 29 ½” (75 cm) in length.