This large and ancient Huon Gulf bowl comes from a remote village high up in the mountainous interior of Umboi Island. Umboi Island is closely related to the Siassi Islands and while conventional Oceanic art wisdom parrots Harding's theory that Siassi Island came to bowl making later than the more famous Tami Islands; this bowl is clear evidence of either a very early local Umboi art production or, equally likely, the trade relationship with the Tami Islands. Either way, this bowl is ancient and is clearly late 19th century. One judges the age of Huon Gulf bowls most easily by the deep, voluminous form. Please look in the Field Photos section of my website for a photo of an old Umboi man sitting with two bowls-one flat newer one and the other a deep, full ancient one. While there are a lot of Huon Gulf bowls out there on the market-originating either on Tami, Siassi, Umboi, or even West New Britain-I can say with great confidence that this is one of the oldest and most impressive that I have seen. The bowl is 37 ½" in length, nearly 16" wide and 8" deep. There are a couple of old, stable splits along the bottom of the bowl that look like the grain has pulled apart over the generations. Let me stress that these are old and stable and in no way affect the strength or aesthetics of the piece. sold