Kali - or headrest - from Fiji. Carved from a solid piece of wood and comprised of a flattened head bar with two thick legs ending in oval-shaped, flat feet. The head bar curves slightly up at either end. Kali are imporant personal possessions as the head is where mana - sacred and ancestral power - is most concentrated.
headrests
wood (plant material)
Fijian
Headrest
E / 47133 / 87-4 (Possibly marked on with pencil)
Original to Phillips House (Salem, Mass.),
E47,133
Unknown
Pacific Island Group
5 x 12 3/4 x 2 5/8 (HxWxD) (inches)
Gift of the Stephen Phillips Memorial Charitable Trust for Historic Preservation
2006.44.1213
for general information about Fijian and Tongan headrests and their interrelatedness.
Fiji
Possibly Tonga
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