The Blue Man’s Nalot dish
On sale December 3, 2024
The social and ritual life of the inhabitants of Vanuatu is punctuated by complex ceremonies during which they climb the ladder of secret societies to acquire knowledge and prestige, and attain higher ranks. These ceremonies take place in the men’s houses. Among the emblematic Vanuatu objects at the heart of these ceremonies are the Rambaramp funeral mannequins from southern Malakula, and the stylized figures sculpted from tree ferns in Ambryn. There is a wide variety of rites and artistic traditions, but pigs are always at the heart of codified exchanges.
Large carved wooden platters are used on the various islands of Vanuatu to prepare and present food for ceremonies. In the center of these large platters, breadfruit was first grated. Then crushed taro and bananas were added, mixed with coconut milk and hot stones for cooking. This is how nalot, the traditional food of rank ceremonies, was prepared. Dishes came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, and had particular regional stylistic characteristics.
Exceptional ceremonial Nalot dish, Malo Island, Vanuatu Archipelago, 19th century or earlier
(serianthes melaesica or serianthes myriadenia) with superb old patina.
22 x 148 x 29 cm
€80,000-12,000
Result: €598, 560
This nalot dish is extremely rare, ending in an anthropomorphic figure at one end, and a stylized structure with partially broken rings at the other. It is carved from very hard wood, with a deep patina, suggesting long ritual use. The rings are interpreted as symbolizing the curved teeth of pigs, essential for ceremonial exchanges. It is said that in ancient times, during cannibal rituals, pieces of the victim could be attached to these rings… The central part of the dish is oval, and highlighted with a jagged pattern, quite typical of northern Malekula, Vao and Malo. The dish has a stable base that raises it some twenty centimetres.
A Rare Object with a Long History
Within the corpus of Vanuatu art, there are only a very small number of dishes with anthropomorphic motifs, including the Espiritu Santo island dish from the Barbier Mueller collection sold by Christie’s in June 2024. The latter ends with a complete human figure, unlike the dish from the Vérité collection (Christie’s 2017, lot 184), which features only a head. A dish from the island of Malo, currently on display at the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac (OC044), features two stylized heads.
Pronounced erosion is visible at one end of the dish, indicating that it was probably planted for a time in the ground in an upright position, with moisture affecting the wood. Similar erosion can also be seen on one side, at the level of the plate and feet. The dish was probably abandoned for some time, lying on the ground and tilted to one side. Inspection of the patina on the platter reveals much darker areas, burnt by the stones used to bake the nalot.
The dish has no confirmed provenance, but is undeniably of great antiquity, with a long history of ritual use. Tests carried out by the CIRAM laboratory (1024-0A-1659J) indicate that the most likely dating is between the late 17th and early 19th centuries. The wood is identified as belonging to the Serianthes family, a very common species on the Pacific islands and in Vanuatu.
The extraordinary proximity of the human figure sculpted on this plate to the famous statue of the Blue Man, in the Pavillon des Sessions at the Musée du Louvre, makes it unique. A comparison of the photos underlines the very great similarities in the sculptural treatment of the head, hair, ears, nose and the geometry of the construction. Like the blue man, the figure on the plate wears a sex cover held in place by a bark belt. This ornament is typical of northeastern Malekula, a region whose inhabitants engaged in numerous commercial and cultural exchanges with those of the island of Malo.
The Blue Man
The Blue Man is a famous Vanuatu ambassador at the Pavillon des Sessions, elevated to the status of universal masterpiece. An anthropomorphic sculpture, nearly 3 meters high, with an elongated face and an authoritative, questioning gaze. It displays the attributes of men from the small islands of Vao and Malo, nestled to the northeast of Malekula. The Blue Man occupies a special place in the Vanuatu corpus, as to date only two similar large wooden statues are known, the other having been collected by Felix Speier on Malo in 1913. Its history has been reconstructed thanks to the work of ethnologists and detailed in an article by Christian Coiffier and Kirk Huffman.
The seaside village of Savakas was also home to inhabitants from the island of Vao, and was an important transit point for trade and pig purchases for ceremonies on the island of Malekula. At the end of the 19th century, Kana Supé, the village chief, chose not to follow established traditions. He wished to celebrate his ascension to the highest rank in society by erecting a large wooden statue featuring elements of Malo and Vao, the blue man. The sculpture is said to have been made in Vao by a high-ranking man whose name has come down to us: Meltek Tilé. The blue man commanded the various ceremonies of the ritual enclosure of Chief Kana Supé, during which pigs were exchanged or sacrificed, and large wooden dishes were used to carry food, in particular Nalot.
The Blue Man, Pavillon des Sessions, Louvre Museum
An early photograph taken by Reverend Paterson around 1915 shows the blue man at the entrance to the men’s house in the village of Savakas, on Malo’s southeast coast. After the death of Chief Kana Supé, the blue man was transferred to his son, then to his half-brother. When the latter was converted to the Presbyterian religion, he abandoned his house of men. A young planter, Eugène Gardel, settled in Malo in 1922, and acquired the land containing the abandoned village of Savakas and the men’s house. He was photographed with the blue man in 1929. The statue was then acquired by a Port-Vila lawyer, who donated it to the Korrigane expedition for the Trocadéro museum in 1935.
So, while we thought that the Blue Man was a unique ambassador for Vanuatu, so stylistically does he occupy a special place in the artistic corpus of these islands, the very big surprise is to discover here, a nalot dish with an anthropomorphic figure very close to the Blue Man, probably dating from the early 19th century or earlier. We thought it might be the same sculptor, or that the sculptor knew the Blue Man. There are still leads in the archives of Reverend Paterson, who took photos of the Savakas men’s house in 1915.
Jean-Philippe Beaulieu
CNRS Research Director
The Blue Man in the House of Men, Savakas village
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