September 14, 1984

Sedco Inc., regarded by many analysts as the world's best offshore drilling company, said yesterday that it was ''engaged in active negotiations'' with another company concerning a takeover. The Dallas-based enterprise said it had scheduled a board meeting for today to consider the merger plan, but it declined to name its suitor or specify the terms. It added that no assurance could be given that an agreement would be reached.

Because of an editing error, an article in The Home Section yesterday about closet redesign misattributed a mail-order service. The service, in which the customer fills out a ''green sheet'' listing closet dimensions, is offered by the Closet Systems Corporation, 1175 Broadway, Hewlett, N.Y. 11557.

''The Maori'' at the Metropolitan Museum is an exhibition of Maori art from New Zealand collections. As such, it is the first show of its kind to be sanctioned by the Maoris, for whom the works in question have an importance that far exceeds even the awe and admiration with which Rembrandt is regarded by the Dutch or Velazquez by the Spaniards. Maori art - and in this context, as will be seen, the word ''art'' can be disputed - is of absolutely primordial importance to the Maori. Not only is it what he values most in his inheritance, but also it could almost be said to be all that survives of his inheritance. It is the sacrament, the energizing force and the hope of continuity. As is by now widely known, the exhibition was inaugurated not in the conventional way but in the course of a ceremony at dawn on the steps of the Metropolitan. (This will be repeated when the show moves later to the St. Louis Art Museum and to the M. H. de Young Museum in San Francisco.) We are dealing, that is to say, with sacred forces, rather than with exalted curiosities. When we reach the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in the Met, we find that the exhibition is not large and that almost all the objects are fragmentary.

Reagan Administration officials said today that the White House had reversed its position and decided against the early release of a report charging the Soviet Union with numerous violations of arms control treaties. The delay was ordered, one official said, at least until after Secretary of State George P. Shultz meets with Foreign Minister Andrei A. Gromyko of the Soviet Union in New York Sept. 26, and President Reagan and Mr. Shultz see Mr. Gromyko here two days later. ''Some people would say that releasing the report would poison the atmosphere for the talks, that we were not serious about seeking agreements,'' a State Department official said. ''I don't know if it would poison the atmosphere, but why run that risk.''

The clothes have been gathered together for donation to the Salvation Army. Cuff links, tie clips and cologne have been given away. The large brown ashtray remains at one end of the coffee table, where it has been for years. But it will soon be put on a shelf, hidden from view. Annie Hunter is lovingly doing away with the everyday reminders of one man's life. Malachi, her husband of nearly 17 years, died in June. And now Mrs. Hunter is in the grip of one of those universally shared experiences, inevitable for anyone with loved ones. In her grief, she is trying to adjust to the void. The journey from painful disbelief to acceptance will, of course, take time, for while symbols of familiarity can be hidden from sight, matters of the heart extend far beyond the five senses.