Sel kambang (Lime gourd)
Production date
Pre 1984
Country
Papua New Guinea
State/Province
North Solomons Province
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Object detail
Description
A decorated lime gourd (sel kambang) used to store lime powder. Curvilinear decorations on body of gourd, incised and infilled with charcoal. A pig tusk is attached to end of gourd stopper, which is wrapped in plant fibre.
Classification
INDIGENOUS CULTURES Melanesian & South Sea Islander lime container
Production date
Pre 1984
Production place
Measurements
L 240 x W 47 mm
Media/Materials description
Plant fiber wrapped around gourd stopper - three different types of fiber, three different patterns. Pig tusk joined to tip of stopper.
Gourd decorations are incised and infilled with charcoal.
Gourd decorations are incised and infilled with charcoal.
History and use
“Throughout coastal regions of Papua New Guinea sel kambang has been an important, valuable form of native money which was kept by the elders of the clans who were chosen as leaders to look after the community and the people.
Whenever an argument arose with in the community, the elder would step up and break the valuable sel kambang in front of the people so that they would learn a lesson when their valuable thing was seen, being smashed to dust.”
–Speech transcript from Steamships Trading Department Employees, Kieta, in farewell ceremony to Jenny Sebba and Arnold Young, November 1984
This sel kambang is ceremonial version of a lime container, made from a gourd and used to store lime powder for betel-nut chewing. Tolai people partake in betel-nut chewing practices for ritualistic purposes and everyday use.
Traditionally, lime powder (crushed shell or coral) is stored in the container, removed with a lime spatula, and then consumed while chewing betel-nut. The narcotic stimulant of the betel-nut is more effectively released alongside small quantities of lime powder.
The lime gourd was gifted to Jenny Sebba and Arnold Young by Steamships Trading Department Employees in Kieta in 1984, and donated to the Museum of Tropical Queensland in 2015.
Whenever an argument arose with in the community, the elder would step up and break the valuable sel kambang in front of the people so that they would learn a lesson when their valuable thing was seen, being smashed to dust.”
–Speech transcript from Steamships Trading Department Employees, Kieta, in farewell ceremony to Jenny Sebba and Arnold Young, November 1984
This sel kambang is ceremonial version of a lime container, made from a gourd and used to store lime powder for betel-nut chewing. Tolai people partake in betel-nut chewing practices for ritualistic purposes and everyday use.
Traditionally, lime powder (crushed shell or coral) is stored in the container, removed with a lime spatula, and then consumed while chewing betel-nut. The narcotic stimulant of the betel-nut is more effectively released alongside small quantities of lime powder.
The lime gourd was gifted to Jenny Sebba and Arnold Young by Steamships Trading Department Employees in Kieta in 1984, and donated to the Museum of Tropical Queensland in 2015.
Associated person
Registration number
E40860
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