Empty vessels from the South Seas

I was delighted to receive so many appreciative responses to my 'Ethiopian painting' blip of two days ago - thanks to all of you who propelled it briefly into the spotlight.

One sharp-eyed and well-informed blipper, Talpa, recognised a Fijian pot on the top of the bookcase I photographed so I decided to get it down and dust it off, along with its companion, and find out about the pottery of Fiji.

Here they are, two Fijian pots, acquired somewhere (not Fiji) along with a small piece of card giving their date as circa 1840-80, and the fact that they were considered superior to those exhibited at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley in 1924/5.

The pottery of Fiji is highly significant because its appearance in the islands dates back at least 3000 years and indicates the arrival of migrants from the West who settled and became the predominant population. The pots were made entirely by women once the men had dug and delivered the clay to them. It was mixed with sand and puddled together with the feet in a process like kneading bread dough. The pots were then built entirely by hand: the wheel never existed in Fiji. Instead, slabs or strips of firm clay were welded together with slip and modeled by means of large stone and a wooden paddle which was used to beat or smooth the clay around the shape of the stone. The pots were baked on a fire made of coconut bark or the like, and burnished with sap or resin. They could be very large indeed, for storage, or smaller for use as cooking pots or drinking vessels. The traditional process is still carried out in a few villages but mainly for the entertainment of tourists, and for sale.

These two pots represent typical designs. The one on the right (9 inches long) is known as a turtle pot for obvious reasons: the bowl is entirely enclosed by carapace with a hole for drinking at one end. Some had rudimentary turtle-like head and feet attached to the rim but if this one did they have broken or worn off. The pot on the left is referred to as the fruit cluster type: 5 distinct globes are joined on top like a bunch of pods. Roughly decorated, there's nothing dainty about these vessels, they're heavy and chunky and grainy like coarse wheaten loaves. I imagine they were brought home to Britain by a colonial administrator or a missionary or simply a traveller, but I'll never know. Deracinated artifacts, they perch on my library shelves keeping the secret of their provenance and being neither of use nor harm - unless they fall on someone's head.