Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

A HAWAIIAN ISLANDS HALE NAUA SOCIETY CONTAINER AND COVER
POLYNESIA
probably kou wood, the tapered cylindrical body with a footed base and a domed cover, with handwritten labels ACB Personal,
20cm high (2)

Provenance
Abigail Charlotte Baldwin (Alexander) 1833 - 1913
Thence by descent
Hawai'i Private Collection
Bonhams, Los Angeles, African & Oceanic Art, 1 May 2024, lot 23

cf. Jenkins, Irving, The Hawaiian Calabash, Editions, Ltd., Honolulu, 1989, p. 133.
Irving Jenkins notes (Ibid. p. 132, caption), "These covered, lathe-turned kou containers once belonged to members of a Hawaiian society, Hale Nauä, founded by King Kalakaua in 1886. With over 75 founding members, primarily from the elite of Honolulu Hawaiian society, membership quickly grew to over 200 by the following year. The semi-secret society remained active until Kalakaua's death in 1891."