Jovo (door post)

For the Kanak peoples of New Caledonia, one of the main focuses for architectural sculpture are the doorways of their great round houses (meeting houses) with their lintel, sill, and side carvings. Great round houses are one of the most powerful symbols of New Caledonian Kanak society. They are meeting houses and they reflect social organisation and the relationship between the clans and their chief. It is therefore not surprising that they are also a major site of Kanak wood carving.

Materials and decoration techniques
The large carved boards that flank the door, such as this one, are among the most striking works of Kanak art. They would be called chambranles (door jambs) in French, but this is not their structural function. They stand in front of the doorway, holding the horizontal rods, which support the material of the walls, in place against the actual doorposts. Each meeting house has two of these boards, sometimes known as jovo, one on each side of the doorway. They are seldom, if ever, an exact pair.

Some stylistic variation and several regional styles have been identified in the wider architectural sculpture of New Caledonia. The large door carvings usually consist of an upper face with geometric design beneath, although in the southern region there is sometimes more than one face.

Acquisition
This jovo is one of two large, similar jovo, perhaps from the same house, in the Oldman collection, which appear to derive from the northern region of New Caledonia. It was purchased by the New Zealand Government in 1948 for an undisclosed sum from the London dealer and collector W O Oldman.