Neckrest (kali)circa 1850

Not on view

Carved wooden object with a long, crescent-curved platform supported by two pairs of arched, dark brown legs with disc-like feet

Title: Neckrest (kali)
Place Made: Tonga
Date Made: circa 1850
Medium: Wood
Dimensions: 7 x 29 x 4 1/2 in. (17.78 x 73.66 x 11.43 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation with additional funding by Jane and Terry Semel, the David Bohnett Foundation, Camilla Chandler Frost, Gayle and Edward P. Roski, and The Ahmanson Foundation
Accession Number: M.2008.66.15
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Art of the Pacific
Curatorial Notes: Gallery Label
Neckrests, which were used to keep complex hairstyles intact, were kept private and sacred to the owner because of their contact with the head, considered by Tongans to be a sacred region. Simply and elegantly carved from a single piece of wood, neckrests of this type were gently curved central pieces upon which to rest. A ridge is carved on the underside, and arching pairs of legs taper down to flat and circular feet.
Tonga lies at the southern end of the inner Polynesian triangle that includes Fiji and Samoa, both of which were culturally influenced by Tonga. Never colonized by a foreign power, Tonga retained a strict hierarchal but uniquely open social system. This included chiefly rule governed by complex genealogical and kinship relationships that were further solidified with beautifully crafted objects instilled with strong mana, or the powerful life force common in Polynesian cultural beliefs. This mana was found in neckrests because of their close personal contact with the head.
Provenance: Collected by Leon Michaud, Staff Officer to the Governor of New Caledonia, in 1885 (old label). Wayne Heathcote (b. 1943), New York, NY, sold to; Masco Corporation Collection, Livonia, MI, sold 2008 through; [Sotheby’s, New York, to]; LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Wardwell, Allen. Island Ancestors: Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection. [Seattle]: University of Washington Press, 1994.

Neckrest (kali)circa 1850

Not on view

Title: Neckrest (kali)
Place Made: Tonga
Date Made: circa 1850
Medium: Wood
Dimensions: 7 x 29 x 4 1/2 in. (17.78 x 73.66 x 11.43 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation with additional funding by Jane and Terry Semel, the David Bohnett Foundation, Camilla Chandler Frost, Gayle and Edward P. Roski, and The Ahmanson Foundation
Accession Number: M.2008.66.15
Classification: Furnishings
Collecting Area: Art of the Pacific
Curatorial Notes: Gallery Label
Neckrests, which were used to keep complex hairstyles intact, were kept private and sacred to the owner because of their contact with the head, considered by Tongans to be a sacred region. Simply and elegantly carved from a single piece of wood, neckrests of this type were gently curved central pieces upon which to rest. A ridge is carved on the underside, and arching pairs of legs taper down to flat and circular feet.
Tonga lies at the southern end of the inner Polynesian triangle that includes Fiji and Samoa, both of which were culturally influenced by Tonga. Never colonized by a foreign power, Tonga retained a strict hierarchal but uniquely open social system. This included chiefly rule governed by complex genealogical and kinship relationships that were further solidified with beautifully crafted objects instilled with strong mana, or the powerful life force common in Polynesian cultural beliefs. This mana was found in neckrests because of their close personal contact with the head.
Provenance: Collected by Leon Michaud, Staff Officer to the Governor of New Caledonia, in 1885 (old label). Wayne Heathcote (b. 1943), New York, NY, sold to; Masco Corporation Collection, Livonia, MI, sold 2008 through; [Sotheby’s, New York, to]; LACMA.
Selected Bibliography: Wardwell, Allen. Island Ancestors: Oceanic Art from the Masco Collection. [Seattle]: University of Washington Press, 1994.