Description: An important ceremonial wood priests oil dish, called ni waiwai
Fiji Islands, 18th century

The great sedre ni waiwai dishes are part of the iconic bowls of the Fiji archipelago. Designed to hold the fragrant coconut oil used during ritual ceremonies, these containers were observed as early as 1846 by Thomas William. This piece came into the collection of Governor Arthur Charles Hamilton Gordon circa 1875, and was then reproduced in the watercolour notebooks of the Pitt-Rivers Museum in the late nineteenth century. With its openwork handle and delicate pattern adorning the perimeter, it is an ancient exemplar of this classic corpus.

Provenance : Private New Zealand collection