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Ceremonial Food Pot, Kwam, 20th century
Low-fired clay
7 1/16 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.
Gift of Marcia and John Friede in honor of Diane B. Wilsey and Harry S. Parker III 2007.44.34

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Artist Biography: (none) PROVENANCE: Jolika Collection of New Guinea Art EXHIBITIONS: 2005 - New Guinea Art. Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede. De Young Museum, San Francisco, 2005. PUBLICATIONS: 2009 FAM Bulletin entry (unabridged) - "Wosera women make cooking pots and common everyday food bowls which are unadorned, while men are responsible for making and decorating ceremonial vessels. This type of decorated clay vessel is called kwam and is used on ceremonial occasions such as yam harvests and initiations. For example, elders used these pots to serve young male initiates a white porridge made with coconut, taro, and yams. (1) The artist who decorated this vessel carefully carved and incised the surface, enhancing the spherical tilt of the underlying form. To indicate a face, he incised concentric circles and diamonds into the clay, which had hardened to the consistency of leather, using either a bamboo implement or flying fox. (2) This face most likely represents a white cockatoo (wama) or a black cockatoo (mange). (3) The Abelam people are located in the Maprik region far north of the Middle Sepik River in the foothills of the Prince Alexander Mountains. They are the largest culture group in all of the Sepik River area. The Wosera are a southwest subgroup of the Abelam who boast the most prolific pottery production. Clay is plentiful and ideal for hand-forming vessels, though agriculturally the soil only yields taro, sago, and yams. To gain extra protein, Wosera people exchange clay pots for dried fish with their Sepik neighbors. (4) Pottery making declined in the twentieth century throughout the Abelam area, except in Wosera, where the production and sale of pots to neighboring villages, resident expatriates, and tourists was still flourishing in the 1970s and 1980s. (5)" FOOTNOTES (1) Patricia May and Margaret Tuckson, The Traditional Pottery of Papua New Guinea (Sydney: Bay Books, 1982), 285. (2) Patricia May, Pottery of Papua New Guinea: The National Collection, Brian Egloff, ed. (Port Moresby: National Museum and Art Gallery, 1977), 60. (3) Beier in John and Marcia Friede, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, exh. cat. (Milan: 5 Continents Editions, 2005), 135; May and Tuckson, Traditional Pottery, 286. (4) May and Tuckson, Traditional Pottery, 279-280. (5) May, Pottery of Papua, 60. 2005 - "A similar food pot is illustrated in Beier, 1976, no. 13. It is said to be a banjip design (two eyes), representing a cockatoo's head. See also Koch, 1968, no. 240." (Catalog #324, New Guinea Art: Masterpieces from the Jolika Collection of Marcia and John Friede, 2005, Volume 2, p. 135.)

Related Keywords
Kwam Pot Food Ceremonial III Parker S Harry Wilsey B Diane honor Friede John Marcia Gift Art Jolika subgroup Wosera people Abelam Oceania Province Sepik East Guinea New Sculpture fired Low mange black wama cockatoo white represents likely face This fox flying implement bamboo either using diamonds circles concentric incised Carved vessel clay Decorated 0709200406050326 A361040 2007.44.34 AOA