Nalot knife, Vanuatu Archipelago, Banks Islands - Lot 76

Lot n° 76
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Estimation :
2000 - 2500 EUR
Result without fees
Result : 1 800EUR
Nalot knife, Vanuatu Archipelago, Banks Islands - Lot 76
Nalot knife, Vanuatu Archipelago, Banks Islands 19th century (pre-contact) Wood H. 47.5 cm Traditionally, men in Vanuatu tended to eat a dish called nalot. Special care was taken with the objects used to prepare and make this dish, such as pestles, knives and dishes - attributes reserved exclusively for the male gender. Most often made of wood or bamboo, they took on a variety of more or less sophisticated forms, depending on the rank and social status of the men who could use them. In addition to these stylistic codes revealing the social status of the man to whom they belonged, they also featured personal motifs developed by each group to which they were linked. Each rank was associated with a set of rights, which were linked throughout the Vanuatu archipelago to the men's house hearth known as the nakamal, through which the men holding these rights cooked their food. Each of these hearths, and therefore each grade, was associated with a set of objects linked to the preparation and consumption of the dish. The variety of shapes and motifs of these objects is particularly well illustrated in the superb drawing plates published by Swiss anthropologist Felix Speiser in Ethnology of Vanuatu: An Early Twentieth Century Study in 1996. The uncluttered, skilfully-architected structure of this example testifies to the formal ingenuity with which the objects are adorned. The base of the knife, in the shape of a traditional blade, is surmounted by three regular, repetitive levels of openwork rhombuses, with a median line running through them, giving the object all its beauty. The handle is beautifully rounded.
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