oceania | Fiji Islands
Kava Bowl
Fiji Islands
Large Tanoa Kava bowl
Carved wood, indigenous repairs
19th century
Height: 10 in. (25.5 cm)
Length: 30 in. (76 cm)
As stated by Steven Hooper for the British Museum, large bowls of this kind (tanoa or kumete ni yaqona), cut from a single block, were for the mixing of kava (kava in Tongan; yaqona, pronounced yanggona, in Fijian), a drink made from the roots and stems of the pepper bush Piper methysticum, mixed with water.
The metal indigenous repairs on the bowl and the legs are paerticularly noteworthy.
The metal indigenous repairs on the bowl and the legs are paerticularly noteworthy.
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