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African and Oceanic Art from the Barbier-Mueller Museum, Geneva: A Legacy of Collecting
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Ceremonial Platter (Rova)
Vanuatu, Espiritu Santo Island, Tsureviu village, 19th century
Wood; H: 34 1/4 in. (87 cm)
Provenance: Collected by Rev. Yates, Tsureviu village, Espiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu; Ralph Nash, London; [John J. Klejman, New York, 1969]; Barbier-Mueller collection, since 1969
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Many of the art forms in northern Vanuatu are associated with grade systems, which are a hierarchical series of male initiations, each of which gives the initiate progressively greater religious and political authority during life, as well as a higher status in the realm of the ancestors. Within the grade system, high-ranking men, who are believed to have more supernatural power, eat separately from men of lower status. Men of each rank typically prepare or eat their food on a separate platter. The platters are primarily used for nalot, a preparation made from crops such as breadfruit, taro, or bananas that are cooked and pounded to produce a food resembling a large pancake. The nalot is then doused with hot coconut milk and often kept warm with stones that have been heated in the fire. The hot stones occasionally produce scorch marks, examples of which can be seen on this platter.
The ornate decoration of this platter indicates that it was used by high-ranking individuals. It is adorned at one end with a human figure, perhaps depicting a specific high-ranking man or possibly an ancestor or spirit. The rows of semicircular motifs at the other end likely represent the tusks of pigs, the most valuable and sacred animal throughout Vanuatu. See another ceremonial platter from Vanuatu in the Met's collection.
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