Areca nut mortar, Kaileuna Island, Trobiand Islands Papua New Guinea Ebony 19th - early 20th century Height: 10 cm Provenance: Collected by Harry Beran in the village of Tawema on Kaileuna Island in January 1983. Harry Beran Collection (HB 230) Collection Marcia & John Friede, The Jolika Collection, Rye, New York, USA Bibliography: Galerie Franck Marcelin, Art Massim. A Selection D'oeuvres Provenant De La Jolika Collection De Marcia Et John Friede, Et A Divers Amateurs, 2016, reproduced p.202. This small, highly stylized mortarboard in cylindrical form seduces by the purity and regularity of its volumes, sublimated by the dark patina of the ebony wood from which it was fashioned. The top is finely decorated with a frieze of engraved geometric motifs, while the base is carved with a zoomorphic head, whose features are reduced to their simplest form. Mortar is used in the preparation of betel nut by the Massim of Papua to grind the ingredients required for this preparation, such as the areca nut itself and possibly other added substances such as lime. This paste is then consumed for social or ritual purposes.