An extremely rare barava, or chiefly wealth item carved in the form of a thick flat ring and surmounted with an open-work composition showing two seated, janus human ancestor figures. The barava are sacred items associated with the chief and possibly sometimes carried aboard warring canoes to ensure victory; some were used to close the open end of the individual skull-houses. Most of the known barava are fragmentary and it is thought they were ritually broken over the chief’s grave. Making a barava is extremely difficult as the shell is amongst the hardest of natural materials. Freshly fished shells were not used – only those that were dug up from the ground, and by consequence of great age and size, were considered to be carvable. The shell was broken up and trimmed to the right general dimensions by burying the wanted section in wet sand and heating the exposed part with fire – then dousing it with cold water and breaking off the unwanted piece.

The fine intricate open-work was made by first drilling a hole and then using a fine strip of bamboo, water, and fine abrasive sand to saw out the desired areas. Grinding and polishing was done with stones, other pieces of shell, leaves, abrasive sands, and shark-skin.

Solomon Islands, Melanesia. Giant clam shell (tridacna giga) with old weathered breaks and a fine patina of age and wear. 21.1 x 11 x 2.1 cm. 16th/19th century.

Provenance : Sold Christie’s, London, 4 July 1989, lot 34 (miss-described as a zaru or bride price) ; ex coll. : John & Rita Giltsoff, Spain. See similar examples in the collections of the British Museum, London ; Museum der Kulturen, Basel ; Musée Barbier-Mueller, Geneva.

Ref.: Waite, Deborah: ART OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS. Musée Barbier-Müller, Geneva. 1983, pl. 12, page 48/49, Nº 23, page 124.