Sago Eating Bowl

Deep conical bowl. Coiled construction, carved and painted. All black. Inside light terracotta with smudged spots from firing and smears of black pigment (fingerprints?). An eating bowl, for individual portions of sago pudding. Supported by a woven fiber ring when in use.

Around the rim, four large oval spirals. Small disk with concentric circles in center. Two large motifs that appear to be zoomorphic: possibly birds, with tails at the center, outspread V-shaped wings, heads at rim. Spces between "birds" and spirals filled with ellipses flanked by concentric crescents. Backs of "birds" are smooth; central circles, wings, tails, central circles and spiral lines are textured with punctate slashes.