Canoe Shaped Oil Dish
date: label: Accession Date
content: 1858
label: Collection Date
content: 1838 to 1842
name: label: Collector
content: Charles Erskine
label: Donor Name
content: United States Exploring Expedition
notes: label: Notes
content: HEAVY, HARDWOOD CARVING OF A STYLIZED DOUBLE- HULLED CANOE WITH A PLATFORM ACROSS THE TWO CANOES WHICH FORMS A RECEPTACLE FOR THE OIL. THERE IS A SMALL PIECE BROKEN AWAY FROM THE PLATFORM / DISH. APPARENTLY THIS OBJECT WAS ORIGINALLY CATALOGUED AS HAWAIIAN [Ledger book: "Sandwich Islands"], BUT IT CORRESPONDS WITH THE TONGA SECTION OF THE PEALE CATALOGUE, AND IT IS DEFINITELY TONGAN OR FIJIAN IN APPEARANCE. MARTHA COOPER IDENTIFIED IT AS FIJIAN IN 1964.
label: Notes
content: FROM CARD: "WOODEN. FORM OF A CANOE RE-IDENTIFIED BY LOCALITY AS FIJIAN MARTHA COOPER. CARVED OUT OF HEAVY BROWN WOOD, IN FORM OF A DOUBLE CANOE. THE PART REPRESENTING THE PLATFORM IS SLIGHTLY SUNKEN TO FORM THE DISH. WIDTH 21 INCHES."
label: Notes
content: Peale catalogue identifies # 937 as "Wooden dish made in the form of a double canoe, and used by the Tonga Islanders in anointing their bodies with cocoa-nut oil - which being poured on the dish made to the size of the open hand, is found to be a convenient toilet article."
label: Notes
content: Discussed p. 265 in Kaeppler, Adrienne L. 2019. "A Kato Mosi Kaka and other Treasures from Tonga from the US Exploring Expedition." In Collecting and Provenance: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach. Milosch, Jane and Pearce, Nick, editors. 257–268. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. "Two models of canoes were included in the collection, one for holding coconut oil [E3584] is surely Fijian ..."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 16 Sep 2024
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Tongatapu Group (not certain), Tonga (not certain) / Fiji (not certain), Polynesia (not certain) / Melanesia (not certain)
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Tongan (?)
label: Culture
content: Fijian (?)
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 66A00050
label: USNM Number
content: E3584-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Oil Container
physicalDescription: label: Length - Object
content: 53 cm
label: Width - Object
content: 26.5 cm
label: Height - Object
content: 5.5 cm