Jovo (door post - top section)

For the Kanak people 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. The large carved boards that flank the door, such as this one, are among the most striking works of Kanak art. These boards are usually called chambranles (door jambs) in French, but this is not their structural function. They stand in front of the doorway and hold the horizontal rods that 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. They often depict a male and a female figure and are seldom, if ever, an exact pair.

Materials and decoration techniques
Some stylistic variation in the sculptures and several regional styles have been identified in the 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. They are often decorated with coloured pigment that highlights details and the facial features of the figures.

Significance
Great round houses were and 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 not surprising that they have provided a major vehicle for Kanak wood carving. These carvings are associated with the spirits of the dead and are said to represent the ancestors of the chiefs to whom the round houses belonged.

Acquisition

This is the top section of a jovo that was probably collected in the nineteenth century. It is one of several in the Oldman Collection, which was purchased by the New Zealand government from W O Oldman in 1948.