Tami Island Bird Eating Fish Bowl
Those carvers from the Tami Islands and surrounding areas were masters who had long conquered their craft. Such a bowl as the present example is a case study in competence, grace and playfulness. Bird headed bowls are a classic from the Tami Islands, but this takes the theme to a different level. The oval bowl is enveloped by the bird’s winds with feathers radiating downward. The bird has caught a fish seemingly way too large to eat and whose head is barely within the open beak. The bowl has real age and a dry slightly encrusted patina. It comes from the estate of my friend Peter Keller, forever director of the Bowers Museum of Santa Ana who passed a couple years ago. The bowl is 24 ½” (62.2 cm) in length, dates to the early 20th century and sells for $3000.