An extremely rare and archaic form of chiefly kali type headrest with whale-ivory inlays. Few three or four legged examples of natural branch-form headrests are known. One early example with four legs is illustrated by Cummings and I know of another one with incised dots in a private collection. The natural or branch-form headrests are cut from chosen trees or roots and generally the neck-bar is shaped to form a slight curve. The legs are carved from small off-shoot branches and their placement and angle is variable in relation to the neck-bar.

This headrest is extremely elegant and perfectly stable, and while it appears to be of abstract form, it is quite reminiscent of a large banana or plantain. It is more unusual than the other recorded ones as the legs jut from thick oval plugs that are cleverly carved as if they were added to the neck-bar. A headrest of this importance would have belonged to a major chief, a person of royal lineage – it was a prize possession indicative of his great power and wealth. The whale-ivory inlays are done in the Tongan manner which again demonstrates the original owners importance. Fijian royalty imported Tongan artists to work the precious whale-ivory and in exchange the Tongans used Fijian craftsmen to make their canoes. The tooth (known as whale-ivory) of the Sperm-Whale was one of the most if not the most precious wealth item in Fiji and Tonga prior to the arrival of the Europeans and their whaling fleets. While Sperm-Whales were abundant in the area as they used the warm Fijian waters for breeding during the months from June to August the Polynesians did not hunt them and were dependant on accidental beachings to provide the raw material. This did not happen too often and with only an average of 50 teeth per animal the ownership and use of the rare whale-ivory remained restricted to nobility in the pre-contact period. Out of the total of 15 inlays, 10 are still present and 5 are missing. The inlays are of various shapes : 8 triangles, 2 arrow-heads, 2 diamonds, a circular stud in each extremity of the neck-bar and one in the form of a stylized flying bird or better yet a bat such as the Samoan Flying fox (Pteropus samoensis nawiensis).

Fiji, Polynesia. Wood (possibly made of the twisted root of the Mangrove tree, Rhizophora Mangle) with Sperm-Whale tooth and a coat of old English varnish. Carved with stone tools. 37.5 x 16 x 20.3 x 15 cm. 18th century or earlier.

Meyer, Anthony JP.: OCEANIC HEADRESTS / APPUIE-NUQUE OCEANIENS. Catalogue d'exposition. Galerie Meyer, Paris. 2004 fig. 53, P. 78.