North Pacific, Hawaiian Islands, Big Island (Hawai'i), ca. 19th century CE. A beautiful poi pounder or muller tool carved by hand from tan-hued stone with light gray inclusions. The tool exhibits a broad, bell-shaped body with a tapered shoulder, a mushroom-shaped handle knob on top, and a convex pounding face of a wide form; the center of the pounding face is slightly pecked. The surfaces of the body, handle, and pounding face peripheries have developed pleasingly smooth surface textures, perhaps as a result from countless utilitarian uses. Size: 4.125" W x 5.6" H (10.5 cm x 14.2 cm)

Poi pounders, alongside adzes, were the most important stone tools in Polynesia and the Hawaiian Islands. The pounders, known locally as a "Ke'a Tuki Popoi," are used for pounding cooked taro root into poi, a staple of the islander diet. Taro root was steamed in an earthen oven, peeled using shells, and placed onto a slab of wood to be pounded. The pounded results were blended with water into a highly nutritious paste. Traditional calabash bowls were used as containers to hold poi mixtures, and traveling royalty were accompanied by their own poi maker, with his or her own poi-making implements like this one.

Provenance: private Newport Beach, California, USA collection

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#160890

Minor nicks and abrasions to handle, body, and pounding face, with very light encrustation deposits along handle and knob, and pecking marks to center of pounding face, otherwise intact and very good. Great surface smoothness throughout.