Drinking bowl
Place: Tahiti & Society Islands
Category: Tools
coconut, Tahiti and the Society Islands, h. 8 cm, Inv. Oz 392
Forster Register B.4: ‘2 drinking bowls made of coconut from Otaheite’ (= Oz 392 and Oz 395)
Bowl Oz 392 (H 8 cm) is made from a light-brown young coconut, niu or ha’ari (Cocos nucifera). According to Henry (1928:41f.), of the sixteen endemic varieties, it must have been a not quite ripe ha’ari-paa-honu which, due to its natural tortoiseshell-shape (honu), was especially suitable for the making of drinking bowls, or bowls with a flat base, ha’ari aua. The coconut shell was split open just above its widest point. It has an opening with a diameter of 11 cm. The imprint of an almost square label can be discerned on the smoothly polished exterior. Gundolf Krüger
Source
Henry, Teuira, Ancient Tahiti, Bernice P Bishop Museum Bulletin, vol. 48, Honolulu, 1928.
Related artefacts
Drinking bowl, Inv. Oz 393
Drinking bowl, Inv. Oz 395