Coco-de-mer Goose

Acquired in Java, Indonesia
Late 19th/Early 20th C.
Coco-de-mer shell, wood, pigments

H. 27 cm, L. 34 cm
The East Indies Museum
IDN: 40-2055-630

Coco de mer, or 'sea coconuts', are the largest seeds in the plant kingdom weighing up to 30 kg. Long known to sailors in the Indian ocean, these coconuts often drifted for long distances and were sometimes washed up on beaches in Java and Sumatra. The home of this plant is the Seychelles where only two populations remain on the islands of Praslin and Curieuse. The seeds are highly prized and have commanded high prices for centuries and trade in the seeds is now tightly controlled. Their two-lobed form suggest the mid-section of a woman and legends had it that they possessed aphrodisiacal powers. It's uncertain how this piece actually found its way to Java but the artist who created this goose from a coco-de-mer shell employed its shape in a most ingenious way. It was possibly used as a container because the upper and lower parts of the shell are split.