The unique hourglass-shaped bowls, or apia nie, created on the islands of Wuvulu and Aua embody the spare, minimalist aesthetic of Micronesian art. Still made today, apia nie are used specifically to collect coconut milk, extracted by squeezing balls of grated coconut meat over the bowl. The wide shallow ends of the bowls curve gently downward toward the deeper center, in which the freshly squeezed liquid collects. Despite their apparent delicacy, apia nie are everyday vessels in widespread use. Many older examples develop a distinctive glossy patina through years of contact with the oil in the coconut milk. In most cases, the form of the vessel, as here, serves as its only adornment, but the interiors of some examples are painted with linear geometric designs.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Bowl (Apia nie)
Date:late 19th–early 20th century
Geography:Papua New Guinea, Wuvulu
Culture:Wuvuluvian
Medium:Wood
Dimensions:H. 1 3/4 x W. 7 1/4 x D. 12 5/8 in. (4.5 x 18.4 x 32.1 cm)
Classification:Wood-Containers
Credit Line:The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
Accession Number:1979.206.1428
[Julius Carlebach Gallery, New York, until 1956]; Nelson A. Rockefeller, New York, 1956, on loan to The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1956–1978
Museum of Primitive Art. "Masterpieces from the Americas," May 20, 1964–November 11, 1964.
Museum of Primitive Art. "The World of Primitive Art," July 12, 1966–September 11, 1966.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of Oceania, Africa and the Americas from The Museum of Primitive Art," May 10–August 17, 1969.
Seattle Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–February 16, 1975.
American Federation of Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–May 15, 1977.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 23, 1975–May 4, 1975.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 8, 1975–July 20, 1975.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," August 25, 1975–October 10, 1975.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," November 9, 1975–December 21, 1975.
Toledo Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," April 11, 1976–May 25, 1976.
Walker Art Center. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 27, 1976–August 8, 1976.
Denver Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," September 10, 1976–November 7, 1976.
de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 12, 1977–May 15, 1977.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Nelson Rockefeller Vision: In Pursuit of 'The Best' in the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas," October 7, 2013–October 9, 2014.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art of Oceania, Africa, and the Americas from the Museum of Primitive Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1969, no. 32.
American Federation of Arts. Primitive Art Masterworks: an exhibition jointly organized by the Museum of Primitive Art and the American Federation of Arts, New York. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1974, no. 113.
Parkinson, Richard Heinrich Robert. Thirty Years in the South Seas: Land and People, Customs and Traditions in the Bismarck Archipelago and on the German Solomon Islands. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999.
Kjellgren, Eric. Oceania: Art of the Pacific Islands in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2007, p. 283, no. 171.
Kjellgren, Eric. How to Read Oceanic Art. How to Read 3. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014, pp. 126–41.
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The Met's collection of art of the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and North, Central, and South America comprises more than eleven thousand works of art of varied materials and types, representing diverse cultural traditions from as early as 3000 B.C.E. to the present.
