A CARVED COCO-DE-MER (LODOICEA MALDIVICA) WITH FIGURAL MOTIFS
Possibly West Coast of India or Ceylon, Sri Lanka, 19th century

A CARVED COCO-DE-MER (LODOICEA MALDIVICA) WITH FIGURAL MOTIFS
Possibly West Coast of India or Ceylon, Sri Lanka, 19th century

Of typical elongated rounded shape, the base pierced, the body cut at the top with a horizontal opening surmounted by a later-added curved handle, the top incised with stylised birds' bodies with dense plumage, possibly peacocks, now missing their heads, the body carved with two overlapping registers with a variety of figures in various stances and poses underneath round arches, some figures dancing, another with a fishtail, another with a monkey face, 39.5cm x 30.5cm.

Carved coco-de-Mer vessels and containers were deemed quintessential exotica pieces sought after by many Western collectors throughout the 17th and 18th centuries as a valid addition to their curiosity cabinets. In reality, they are oddly shaped coconut shells coming from a palm endemic to the islands of Praslin and Curieuse in the Seychelles. Until their true source was revealed in 1768, many believed these nuts, whose shapes resembled female hips and buttocks, used to grow on a mythical tree at the bottom of the sea. For an almost identical 19th-century carved coco-de-mer with figural motifs divided on a double arcade attributed to the West Coast of India, please see Christie's London (South Kensington), 5 September 2013, lot 13.

(Quantity:2)

Dimensions: 39.5cm x 30.5cm